Does the U.S. government have the authority to “mass deport” Venezuelan crime gangs that have infiltrated the country and go on to rob and terrorize Americans?
President Trump campaigned on a promise to do exactly that. He vowed his administration would find and send back to their native countries millions of illegal migrants—beginning with an untold number of criminal elements belonging to violent Venezuelan gangs.
He received an overwhelming mandate from Americans who put him in office to carry out his promises.
In March, Trump began making good on his pledge to deport crime gang members, invoking the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to oust hundreds of members of the notorious MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs in mass deportations.
Tren de Aragua is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization with thousands of members who infiltrated the country under the Biden administration. Gang members are heavily involved in the narcotics trade, weapons smuggling and human trafficking.
They are said to operate in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, another dreaded gang notorious for perpetrating brutal crimes including murders, kidnappings and extortions.
Liberals Fight to Keep Gangsters in the Country
In late March, U.S officials put 261 criminals and illegal aliens affiliated with Tren de Aragua on flights to El Salvador where, as per an agreement with the El Salvadoran government, they were incarcerated in a maximum security prison.
The administration was immediately hit with a lawsuit from liberals and civil rights groups demanding their return. Their brief argued that the Alien Enemies Act only applies to nationals of enemy nations during a declared war, and that it doesn’t cover gangs.
The Department of Homeland Security responded in court filings that each of the alleged gang members had shown clear ties to foreign criminal organizations deemed by DHS to be national security threats—an area over which the Constitution grants the executive branch exclusive authority.
Obama-appointed Judge James Boasberg (DC Circuit) nevertheless issued a verbal restraining order that the gang members could not be deported unless he so ordered.
Despite his ruling, the administration proceeded with the deportations, arguing that a verbal directive was not legally binding, and that the flights with the deportees were already en route to El Salvador when the judge’s order was issued.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the government’s action, noting in a press conference that “every single one of [the group] was deportable for reasons even beyond the Alien Enemies Act. Many of these people had orders of deportation already and were either in custody or had been recently apprehended for being here illegally.”
The secretary of state said the government “has reason to believe that the gang members were actually being pushed towards the United States in large numbers by the regime in Venezuela,” justifying the administration’s referring to the mass border crossings as an “invasion.”
He referred to footage that captured the hero’s welcome one of the gang members received upon arriving in Venezuela.
“You saw just yesterday how he was greeted on the tarmac as a hero. This is an individual that was arrested for – caught on video – attacking police officers in Times Square. So, we believe that in many ways the Venezuelan regime has encouraged the flow of these groups towards the United States to create harm in our country,” Rubio said at the press conference.
“These gangs originated as a prison gang and are very dangerous,” the secretary of state remarked. “They grow, they metastasize. Prison gangs create something like academies within the prisons that then metastasize and spill out to the general population, presenting very real and immediate risks in a number of communities in our country,” he asserted.
Supreme Court Backs the Government
The case came before the Supreme Court which backed the government in a 5-4 decision. A Wall Street Journal explained the ruling in an editorial headlined, “Trump’s Triple Win at the Supreme Court.” The sub-headline added, “The Justices tell lower courts to stay in their proper judicial lane.”
First, “a 5-4 majority handed the president a partial victory Monday,” the editorial explained, “by allowing his Administration to continue deporting Venezuelans believed to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the Alien Enemies Act.”
On the other hand, the “partial victory,” referred to the court’s nod to liberals in the part of its ruling that allowed deportees a limited form of due process rights under the Alien Enemies Act; these individuals must be given some notice of impending deportation, as well as an opportunity to challenge their removal.
But the Court’s order required those legal challenges to be made in the same district court which detained the defendant, rather than allow him to go “judge shopping” for a sympathetic court in the District of Columbia or Maine as immigration attorneys have been doing.
In addition, the defendants must each make their case individually — they can’t seek relief in a class-action for all deportees, as left-wing attorneys have been trying to orchestrate.
If not deportable under the Alien Enemies Act, alleged gang members can potentially still be deported under other laws, the court’s ruling said.
Liberal Judge Moves to Hold Trump in Contempt
Meanwhile, Judge Boasberg escalated the conflict with the administration by demanding the DOJ answer his long list of detailed questions about the controversial flights that delivered the gangsters to prison in El Salvador, not heeding his order to return to U.S. shores.
He even demanded the names of the government officials who handled the deportations, warning they could be held in contempt.
Trump’s lawyers told the court they would not answer any more questions about the flights, since those answers would disclose state secrets. Any further information, the attorneys said, would “undermine or impede future counterterrorism operations. The court has enough information especially regarding matters the court is not competent to determine, such as security operations.”
Dismissing these arguments, Boasberg moved to hold the Trump Administration in contempt of court but was thwarted when a federal court of appeal halted the contempt proceedings this past Friday.
Ironically, that ruling came just as Boasberg was presiding over an emergency hearing requested by the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The group wanted the court to block what it claimed was a “new, imminent wave of deportations to El Salvador,” The Hill reported.
At the hearing, a government attorney insisted no deportation flights were planned through the weekend but cautioned, “I have also been told to say that the government reserves the right to remove people tomorrow.”
When the ACLU lawyer protested, Boasberg declined to intervene, saying the Supreme Court’s ruling—that deportees must challenge their removal individually, in the same district in which they were detained–meant he, Boasberg, had no authority to step in.
“I’m sympathetic. I understand the concern,” the judge told ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt. “But at this point, I just don’t think I have the power to do anything about it.”
Migrants Pressured to Self-Deport
A NY Times article discussed a new method implemented by the Trump Administration in its efforts to motivate illegals to self-deport.
Trump is seeking to halt financial services available to illegal migrants as “immigration relief” in several states. The government is now cancelling social security, credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services that it says “incentivizes illegal immigration.”
White House spokeswoman Elizabeth Huston said the changes at Social Security would help advance the president’s immigration goals.
“President Trump promised mass deportations, and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport,” she wrote in a statement. “He is delivering on his promise he made to the American people.”
DOGE has used the new Social Security “master file” to screen out people who should not be receiving government benefits. On Tuesday, DOGE workers produced the first batch of 6,300 names of migrant criminals and known terrorists who are currently getting U.S. government benefits.
Activating Forgotten Laws
Critics of Trump insist that his executive orders and policies are impulsive and reckless, following no well thought out master plan.
Yet, the manner in which the Trump administration has outmaneuvered Democrats and immigration activists by leveraging existing but largely forgotten laws to implement mass deportation of criminals, shows just the opposite.
Far from being a fumbling, make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach, the government’s moves reflect a carefully honed strategy of dusting off a forgotten legal “tool” that was always on the books but was left unenforced.
Three of Trump’s recent moves against illegal immigration demonstrate this novel approach.
In the first one, Trump signed an order that “everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government and carry documentation, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country,” the AP reported.
Civil rights group immediately mounted a lawsuit. But the administration responded that it was merely applying a long-overlooked law called the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
Also called the “Smith Act,” the law requires all “non-citizen adult residents” —age 14 and above, in the United States for more than 30 days— to register with the federal government. This includes providing detailed personal information, fingerprints, and political affiliation.
Failure on the part of non-citizens to comply carries criminal penalties and deportation once law enforcement catches up with them.
The Smith Act has been on the books for decades, writes attorney and conservative columnist Jeff Childers. “It has been extensively challenged, especially by communist groups during the Cold War, and never been found unconstitutional.”
If illegals follow the law and register, then ICE instantly knows where to find them, which admittedly deters many from complying. Yet, if they fail to register and are caught, ICE has another legal basis for deporting them; violating the Smith Act.
Slapped with Fines
An NBC article revealed a third administration tool for encouraging illegals to self-deport, using yet another largely forgotten law.
The article said that “Trump plans to fine migrants $998 a day for failing to leave the country after a deportation order. The administration plans to apply the penalties “retroactively” for up to five years, “which could result in fines of more than $1 million,” the article elaborated.
While NBC cast the plan as a sinister ploy to “punish” illegal immigrants, the writer had to admit that “the fines stem from a 1996 law that was enforced for the first time in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.”
Called the Illegal Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, the law imposes civil penalties on noncitizens who willfully fail to comply with final removal orders. It calls for a civil penalty of up to $998 per day for violators.
The Trump Administration has also suggested the DOJ will deploy its “asset forfeiture division” to seize bank accounts and real estate of illegal aliens who defy their deportation dates.
These aggressive moves —enforcing daily fines for ignoring deportation orders, combined with asset seizures, registration under the Alien Registration Act, and the government’s enforcement of existing immigration statutes— are collectively ratcheting up the pressure on illegal migrants to self-deport.
Those affiliated with crime gangs have the most to lose by remaining in the country. If caught, they risk being sent to El Salvador’s super-maximum prison— a dreaded fortress known for housing violent gang members under extremely harsh conditions.
At the same time, the government is also offering perks to illegals who voluntarily self-deport. Those who do so will be afforded a chance to apply for legal residency or citizenship; their past conduct in crossing the border illegally will not disqualify them. They just need to first exit and then use the right channels to apply for admission.
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Judge Resigns After Harboring Alleged Tren de Aragua Gangster
A shocking story unfolded this past week in New Mexico that combines many of the elements of the immigration-deportation debate. It also shines a light on how criminal cartels can infiltrate the most quiet, peaceful, all-American-looking neighborhoods.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Democratic Judge Joel Cano of Dona Ana County resigned last month after it surfaced that he and his wife were harboring Christian Lopez-Ortega, 23, an illegal Venezuelan migrant and an alleged member of Tren de Aragua, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Ortega was first caught climbing a barbed wire fence at the El Paso, Texas-Mexico border in December, 2023, but was released on parole three days later due to severe overcrowding in the prison.
The Venezuelan citizen failed to show up for his deportation hearing some months later. Yet instead of fading into obscurity, he ended up taking up residence with a state judge—even using Judge Cano’s home address in his application for immigration services.
According to court documents, El Paso Homeland Security officials raided the Cano home and found Ortega in possession of illegal weapons, living in the guest cottage. He sported trademark Tren de Aragua tattoos on his body and his phone contained texts and pictures linking him to the crime gang.
They include messages from a friend asking Ortega to procure for him two grenades, and pictures of a grisly murder scene showing decapitated victims with their hands cut off.
Other photos show Ortega shooting at a gun range, armed with a generous supply of rifle and gun ammunition. Searching through social media, investigators found pictures and videos of Ortega posing in various social settings with the Cano family; fraternizing at a barbecue shoulder to shoulder with Judge Cano, and eating dinner together with the Canos in their well-to-do home.
Text messages reviewed by investigators reveal Ortega referring to the Canos as his patrons.
Purely Humanitarianism?
According to an article in Gateway Pundit, investigators say that Judge Cano’s wife attested to having encountered Ortega working in construction and to subsequently hiring him as a handyman for odd jobs around the house.
After Ortega was evicted from his apartment, the Canos invited him—an illegal immigrant affiliated with a vicious crime gang—to live with the family.
Equally bizarre, at the court hearing where Ortega admitted crossing the border illegally in 2023, skipping town while on parole, and having multiple illegal weapons in his possession, the local federal judge overruled the prosecutors’ bid to keep him detained, citing the Venezuelan’s friendship with Judge Cano.
“Judge Cano wouldn’t keep just anybody in his house,” Judge Damian Martinez averred.
It’s difficult to gauge which judge appears more compromised; Cano, the state judge embroiled in what appears to be a special relationship with a member of a terrorist organization? Or the federal judge who appears to have been running cover for Judge Cano.
“Historically,” writes attorney Wilders, “the corruption of local judiciary is one of the first and most critical steps that cartel-style organizations take when consolidating soft territorial control.”
Cartels are cagey and experienced, he notes. “They quietly assimilate and get a read on the local judicial and law enforcement arena. Then they deploy a carrot and stick approach. They offer sweet bribes called “plata” (silver), sometimes cloaked as gifts or brokered with third parties. And, for judges who don’t take bribes, they offer quiet threats called “plomo” (lead): you don’t want to deny bail to a Tren de Aragua comrade in arms.”
Plata or plomo. Silver or lead.
“The cartels realize there are only a handful of judges in each locale, so controlling even one through plato or plomo makes a significant difference. As in organized crime, control the judiciary and you effectively control law enforcement,” the writer explains.
The fact that Cano permitted Ortega to use his home address for ICE purposes is suspect, critics have pointed out. And the fact that he felt compelled to actually share his home with a 23-year-old illegal alien even more so. Was it purely humanitarianism?
Or could Cano’s residence have possibly been used as a kind of “stash house” for arms smuggling, or served as a base of operations for other illegal activities? At minimum, it did serve as a sanctuary for an alleged gangster on the run from the law.
Was there a quid pro quo? Was Ortega providing some service for the judge?
While the silence from the Democratic Party in New Mexico has been deafening—with not a single voice rising to defend or denounce Cano—the public is left in the dark, demanding answers. Investigators have vowed to uncover the truth. And when they do, it could shake the very foundations of power in the state.
