Trump says the Alien Enemies Act gives him power to deport people he alleges are linked to the Tren de Aragua prison gang.

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from using a 227-year-old law meant to protect the US during wartime to carry out mass deportations of Venezuelans. Trump on Saturday proclaimed immigrants belonging to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua were "conducting irregular warfare" against the US and that he would deport them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

President Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II, granting himself sweeping powers under a centuries-old law to deport people associated with a Venezuelan

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua members. A federal judge later ordered the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off.

Donald Trump is expected to invoke a rarely-used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in an effort to ramp up deportations.