(THE CONVERSATION) As President Donald Trump often promised during his 2024 presidential campaign, on March 15, 2025, he invoked an obscure 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act to justify deporting 137 Venezuelans he says are associated with a Venezuelan gang.

The president’s invocation of the wartime law enacted in 1798 was quickly blocked by a federal judge. It had only been used three times before in U.S. history.