The Trump deportations and Order 9066

On Feb. 15, President Donald Trump made a truly remarkable post on X. He posted:

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law

This post gives us incredible insight into Donald Trump's mindset. The most important thing we can learn here is that Trump really believes that he is saving America, or dare I say it, Making America Great Again – and he sees deportations as a key part of the mission. Second, he will not let pesky things like laws or judges thwart his plans. Third, since this quote is often attributed to Napoleon, we see Trump’s admiration for strong leaders. Of course, Napoleon took control of France in a military coup and later declared himself emperor, believing he was acting in the country’s best interest.

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the United States who thinks that it is a good idea to allow members of foreign criminal gangs to enter or remain in the United States. However, this week, President Trump took the unprecedented action of using the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to deport 238 suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to be imprisoned in El Salvador. I say unprecedented because the Alien Enemies Act has only been used in the past during times of declared war, specifically, the War of 1812 and the two World Wars. The act applies only during a declared war or when the U.S. faces an invasion or incursion by a foreign nation or government. Neither condition applies here. At the present time, we are not at war, and Tren de Aragua is not a foreign nation or government.

I absolutely believe that Tren de Aragua members should be deported. But, I also believe we have mechanisms to do so without invoking the Alien Enemies Act to give the president extraordinary powers. I am just as concerned about giving the government or, even worse, a specific branch of government the ability to arbitrarily declare that someone is a member of a criminal gang without due process. Last Saturday, James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, issued an order to halt the deportations. The Trump administration said the planes were already in the air and that the court did not have jurisdiction over this executive action.

This week, the Trump administration also deported Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese kidney transplant specialist in the US, on an H1B visa. Dr. Alawieh was detained and then denied entry after it was discovered that she had attended the funeral of a senior Hezbollah leader while at home in Lebanon. The United States declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 1997. A judge issued an order saying that Dr. Alawieh could not be deported without first having a hearing. Customs and Border Patrol officials say they did not receive notice of the order until Alawieh was already in the air leaving US airspace.

In another case, Badar Khan Suri, a post-doctoral fellow on a student visa, was taken into custody by Homeland Security agents who told him that his visa had been revoked. Suri has no criminal record and has not been charged with a crime. Suri’s lawyer claims that he is being targeted because his wife, a U.S. citizen, is Palestinian, and her father was a senior Hamas advisor.

The last deportation case I want to mention is Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University and is a permanent resident alien or green card holder. Kahlil’s green card was revoked because of his role in leading pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia campus. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

In these cases, I believe that Tren de Aragua should be deported, but we must have a process to determine who is and is not a member, and they should be deported regardless of their immigration status. In Dr. Aliwieh’s case, I am in favor of denying entry to supporters of terrorist organizations. Suri’s case is more complicated. I do not know precisely why he is being deported, and this seems like a case that should be heard in court. Holding a green card does not mean that Khalil cannot be deported, but green card holders have always enjoyed the same free speech rights as citizens.

I am most concerned about the Khalil case. Khalil’s attorney claimed that ICE agents threatened to arrest Khalil’s pregnant wife, who is a US citizen. The last time the Alien Enemies Act was used, in World War II, it was followed quickly by Order 9066, which put 120,000 United States citizens in internment camps.

Protests against Elon Musk and his company, Tesla, are on the rise, and US Attorney General Pam Bondi has called the violence and vandalism ”nothing short of domestic terrorism.” So, maybe we should catch a few of the people spray painting swastikas on cybertrucks, revoke their citizenships, and send them to an El Salvadoran prison.

David Chung is a Gazette editorial fellow; david.chung@thegazette.com