Photo via Axios
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On March 15, 2025, President Donald J. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, declaring war on the Venezuelan terrorist group Tren de Aragua. In doing so, he hoped to allow the United States to deport suspected Venezuelan terrorists on a mass scale with limited evidence. The act, historically reserved for wartime, has been invoked three times in the United States’ history, during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. Notably, the edict was used to justify Japanese-American internment during World War II.
Tren de Aragua originated in the Tocorón prison in Aragua, Venezuela. The group’s name roughly translates to Aragua Train, perhaps a nod to a Venezuelan labor union that worked on an unfinished railway project. During his imprisonment in Tocorón, Héctor Rustherford Guerrero Flores, known by his epithet, Niño Guerrero, made Tren de Aragua the notorious gang it is today with help from the Venezuelan government and their unofficial policy of handing control of prisons to crime bosses called pranes. Under Niño Guerrero’s guidance, Tren de Aragua expanded across Latin America to countries like Colombia, Peru, and Chile.
President Trump claims that Tren de Aragua has conducted illegal warfare and hostile actions against the United States including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and trafficking of humans, drugs, and weapons, and that illegal immigration by gang members undermines public safety and destabilizes democracy in the Americas. He even suggested that Tren de Aragua may be working under the direction of the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump vowed to deport as many people from the United States as possible. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told reporters they have arrested 32,000 people since January, 2025. Those at risk of deportation include people who entered the country illegally, overstayed a work/student visa, or violated a green card. ICE agents do not have to prove that an illegal immigrant committed a crime to deport them. Moreover, as of now, the Trump administration has stated it will not renew the Temporary Protected Status –which grants citizens of some countries permission to live and work in the United States– for Haitians and Venezuelans. He also vowed to end a humanitarian program that grants two-year permits to live and work in the United States to Cubans, Haitians, Nicarguans, and Venezuelans.
Specifically, Mr. Trump targeted Venezuelan men in his mass deportations. In about three weeks, 238 Venezuelan migrants were deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. The United States government has claimed that all 238 Venezuelans are a part of Tren de Aragua, despite an overwhelming majority of them (179 men) having no existing criminal record. Many migrated to the United States to escape political oppression and violence or seek employment opportunities. Of the 22% with an existing record, most are guilty of petty crimes like theft, shoplifting, or trespassing. Only 12 of the men deported have violent offenses on their criminal record. Worse, the government has little to no information about the men who were imprisoned.
United States District Judge James E. Boasberg tried to bar the transportation of immigrants to El Salvador, but was told by White House lawyers that his order was obsolete because the planes holding the immigrants were already in the air. The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement on X, stating, “The administration did not ‘refuse to comply’ with a court order. The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory.” Leavitt also stated that federal courts do not have jurisdiction over what the president does regarding foreign affairs.
Who were the immigrants deported to El Salvador?
Two men taken to El Salvador were highlighted by CBS, Andry Hernandez Romero and Jerce Reyes Barrios. Mr. Romero is a 31-year-old Venezuelan man. He has no existing criminal record in Venezuela or the United States. CBS states that Mr. Romero moved to the United States because he was targeted for his sexuality and political views in his home country. He is a talented makeup artist and part of a theatre troupe. Mr. Romero received an appointment to seek asylum in the United States and legally crossed the border in San Diego. Lindsay Toczylowski was assigned as Mr. Romero’s lawyer, representing him pro bono. She believed he had a very strong asylum case as the government found the threats against him credible. However, he did not report for his court hearing in March. He was next seen in photos taken by Time magazine photographer Philip Holsinger in a Salvadoran prison. Holsinger heard Mr. Romero pleading with the guard, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist.” His head was forcibly shaved. The only evidence the government has against Mr. Romero are pictures of crown tattoos that immigration authorities say signal ties to Tren de Aragua. Toczylowski defended Mr. Romero’s tattoos, stating that the tattoos are to honor his parents. Mr. Reyes Barrios, meanwhile, was linked to Tren de Aragua through a fourteen-year-old Facebook post showing what ICE agents thought were gang signs. They were rock and roll hand signs. His crown tattoo was also seen as evidence of gang affiliation. The crown, however, is above a soccer ball. Mr. Reyes Barrios’s favorite soccer team is Real Madrid, whose logo includes a crown.
To compound the irrationality, organized crime analyst Lee Gelernt stated that tattoos as a whole are not reliable stand-alone indicators of membership to Tren de Aragua. The Trump administration is targeting Venezuelans, regardless of whether there is reliable information about their involvement in gangs.
Where are the immigrants being sent?
Donald Trump transferred 238 immigrants to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration agreed a deal with President Nayib Bukele to pay $6 million for one year of his country’s services.
President Bukele has made El Salvador’s harsh prisons a trademark of his administration’s fight against crime. The American deportees are being sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), which opened in 2023. CECOT is located in Tecoluca, about 45 miles east of San Salvador. The prisoners are not allowed to go outside or see visitors. They are not offered workshops or education programs to prepare them to return to society after imprisonment. The only way out of the prison is death.
As of March 2024, Cristosal, a human rights organization, reported that El Salvador held 110,000 prisoners in the country. In April 2021, the Salvadoran government reported that only 36,000 were incarcerated. In that time, 261 people were confirmed to have died in prison either through abuse, torture, or lack of medical attention. CECOT itself is notorious for overcrowding, insufficient resources for inmates, and undermining the dignity of prisoners by making them wear only boxer shorts, sit in cramped spaces, and sleep in cells without bunks.
President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act marks a historic and controversial moment in United States immigration policy. While the administration justifies deportations as a necessary protection against Tren de Aragua, many of the men sent to El Salvador have no ties to criminal activity. As the United States continues to outsource foreign prisoners and bypasses legal oversight, lines between national security and political persecution will become increasingly blurred. At what point does protecting national security harm the principles of justice and human rights that define democracy?
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This article was edited by Bowen Yao and Chapin Fish
Quinn Fuerst 
Ruben Ortiz 
Renee Agostini