The White House would have the public believe that Donald Trump’s embrace of the Alien Enemies Act is simply a matter of common sense: The president wants to remove dangerous gang members from the United States, and this is the best way to make that happen.
But the closer one looks, the worse the policy appears. The Trump administration officials have said they used the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador, but they’ve struggled with foundational questions: Were all of the people on the plane gang members? How were they identified? Were they undocumented immigrants? Did they commit any crimes? Are they even Venezuelan? What are their names? Have any of those affected received due process?
It was against this backdrop that a reporter asked Trump on Friday, “Do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people, deport them, and then you’re under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?” The Republican replied, “Well, that’s what the law says, and that’s what our country needs.”
He didn’t elaborate as to which “law” he was referring to, or why Americans should believe this outrageous process is what the United States “needs.”
Trump, however, was hardly the only member of his team making outlandish comments. Over the weekend, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared on Fox News — again — and insisted that those who were sent to prison in El Salvador were “illegal aliens who are committing the most violent crimes you can imagine on Americans.”
Whether the nation’s chief law enforcement official knows this or not, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official conceded in a court filing last week that “many” of those deported did not have criminal records in American courts. According to a lawyer for one of the men affected, the administration sent a gay makeup artist with no criminal record or gang affiliations to the prison in El Salvador, too.
Trump on Friday said “they” checked the deportees “very carefully,” adding, “I was told they went through a very strong vetting process.” There’s reason to believe otherwise: Even White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz conceded over the weekend that the administration might’ve made “one-off” mistakes.
And then, of course, there’s White House border czar Tom Homan. The conservative Washington Times reported:
White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday promoted the Trump administration’s deportation of alleged migrant gang members, saying the president is operating under federal law and will not defy court orders. Mr. Homan also pushed back against critics who raised concerns about due process rights after President Trump invoked a rarely used wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to fly 240 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and 21 alleged MS-13 members to a high-security prison in El Salvador.
“Due process? What was Laken Riley’s due process?” Homan said on ABC’s “This Week,” referring to a nursing student who was murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant. “What were all these young women that were killed and raped by members of [Tren de Aragua]? What was their due process? How about the young lady that was burned alive on the subway? Where was her due process?”
KARL: Do they have any due process at all?HOMAN: Due process — what was Laken Riley's due process?(That's a "no")








