Trump Invokes 1798 Alien Enemies Act To Send Migrants To Salvadoran Mega-Prison Without Hearings, Resolving Long-Standing Concern That Due Process Was Slowing Things Down

WASHINGTON. Citing the urgent need to remove wartime invaders from the United States in the absence of any war or invasion, President Trump on Saturday invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute previously used three times in American history (each during a declared war), to immediately deport more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, a Salvadoran mega-prison whose marketing materials emphasize that inmates never leave.

The proclamation designates the Tren de Aragua gang as a "hostile nation" engaged in an "invasion" of the United States, a finding administration lawyers reached by interpreting the words "hostile nation" and "invasion" with the flexibility one might apply to terms like "fresh" or "homemade." Hearings, attorneys, and any opportunity to dispute the gang allegation were dispensed with on the theory that wartime statutes need not pause for them.

"These are some of the worst people on Earth," said the President, who has not personally reviewed the files of any of the individuals deported. "We don't have time for hearings. Hearings are for people who didn't do anything." A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, clarified that the absence of hearings was the entire point, as hearings would have allowed the deportees to reveal facts such as their names, their immigration status, and whether they were actually members of Tren de Aragua, which subsequent reporting indicated most were not.

Federal District Judge James Boasberg ordered the planes turned around mid-flight. The administration responded by allowing the planes to continue, a maneuver it later defended by noting the order had been issued first orally and only later in writing, and the administration was awaiting a third confirmation in elegant cursive. Among those sent to CECOT was Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had a federal court order specifically barring his deportation, an order the administration described as a "clerical issue" until the Supreme Court unanimously ordered his return, at which point it described the order as ambiguous.

CECOT director Osiris Luna welcomed the new arrivals with a video tour highlighting the facility's capacity (40,000), its natural light per cell (none), and its outgoing communication options (none). U.S. taxpayers will reimburse El Salvador roughly six million dollars per year for the service, an arrangement administration officials described as "more efficient than American prisons," a description true in the same sense that disposing of trash by setting it on fire is more efficient than recycling.

At press time, the President was reviewing a list of additional categories of person whom, in his judgment, are also engaged in a hostile invasion, including law students, college presidents, and the editorial board of any newspaper that has recently used the word "unprecedented."