Legal Battle: President Trump Declares ‘This Is War’

President Donald Trump ignored a federal judge’s ruling to turn back two planes carrying over 200 deported migrant criminals (Venezuelan gang members) to an El Salvador prison. The White House argued that the judge’s order was irrelevant because the planes were over international waters.

Critics are accusing Trump of abusing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which Trump invoked in his Executive order to deport Tren de Aragua gang members. However, Trump defended his action, declaring: “This is war.” 

The invoked law has only been used three different times in U.S. history: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. Though the law is controversial at times, one truth remains: It still exists on the books, and Congress has never changed the law.

The President’s critics are saying that we are not in wartime, so the law can’t be used. But they don’t consider how broad a term wartime is, especially considering the global war on terror. The State Department labeled the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist group, opening the door for violent gang members to be deported under the 1798 law.

To be honest, we are entering the realm of novel legal theory, so the courts will have to determine the legality of Trump’s action. ACLJ Senior Counsel and Director of Policy Harry Hutchison elaborated further:

It’s also imperative to remember that the President’s authority, in this particular case, first is grounded in Article 2 of the United States Constitution and . . . in a specific statutory ruling, basically the Alien [Ememies] Act. . . . [Also,] any decision by the U.S. Supreme Court basically clawing back the President’s authority will have huge implications going forward. Can a federal judge order President Trump to stop bombing the Houthis in the Middle East? Can the U.S. President be ordered not to go after terrorists who are located in Iran or in Mexico? So I think this is going to set up a very important case, . . . and right now, it’s difficult to forecast the outcome.

As I mentioned, Trump declared, “This is war.” Now it’s not war in the traditional sense, but millions of dangerous illegal criminals crossed our border during the Biden Administration. We have seen countless deaths as a result of fentanyl. So, yes, we are at war with dangerous drug cartels and criminals that threaten our national security.

Speaking of terrorist groups, people who shouldn’t be labeled as such are pro-lifers. We told you how the Biden Department of Defense was inexplicably training the U.S. Army to label pro-life organizations like Operation Rescue and anyone with “Choose Life” license plates as terrorists.

We took immediate legal action on behalf of Operation Rescue. First, we sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, demanding all information regarding this offensive, so-called anti-terrorism briefing. We followed up with a demand letter to the U.S. Army, calling for it to apologize and cease mislabeling our client as a terrorist group in its training materials.

FOIAs are a waiting game, but after a seven-month wait, we just received the full PowerPoint presentation in accordance with our FOIA request. The full presentation reinforces that Biden’s DOD was training soldiers to view pro-life organizations and citizens as equal to Islamic terrorists.

However, the PowerPoint presentation also proved that the DOD didn’t only label pro-lifers as terrorists. It also gave its version of the history of terrorism, which it claims began with “‘Zealots of Judea’ in the first century A.D.” In other words, they blame the roots of terrorism on the Jews.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon reacted to this outrageous revelation:

If you look back just a couple of decades, and even maybe more recently than that, dictionaries and encyclopedias, when they define terrorism, it all starts with . . . the French Reign of Terror, and that’s when the notion of terrorism really starts then. Now, there was violence way before – the time of the Bible also. So there’s a seamless narrative that’s being created on the internet . . . that’s being used by sources to create this idea that . . . the Jews are the ones who brought terror and violence into the world, . . . which is, of course, the exact opposite of reality, which is, again going back to those sources a few years ago in the modern world, it’s attributed to whom? Surprise, the Palestinians. Because they’re the ones who actually launched global terror into the world.

We will keep you updated on further developments from our FOIA. We won’t allow Israel or pro-life organizations to be labeled as terrorists.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of President Trump ignoring a judge’s temporary ban on his Executive order to deport illegal criminals to Central America.

Watch the full broadcast below: