Tren de Aragua, commonly known as TdA, is the Venezuelan gang targeted by President Trump in recent mass deportations.
On Saturday, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the first time it’s been used since World War II. It allows the president to have sweeping powers to deport people and specifically targeted TdA members.
What is TdA?
The gang originated in a Venezuelan prison in 2014. Tren de Aragua is Spanish for “the train of Aragua.” The group may have gotten its name from a union of railroad workers, NPR reported.
The gang controlled the prison and controlled crime in the country from behind bars. As Venezuela’s economic outlook declined, the gang spread internationally by finding new members among Venezuelans leaving due to the economic crisis, the outlet reported.
Even though Venezuela’s government has claimed to have eliminated the organization, several countries have reported arrests of members.
In the U.S., the group has been part of robberies and is suspected of shooting several New York police officers and the death of a former Venezuelan police officer in Florida, NPR reported.
Trump and TdA
While campaigning last year, Trump highlighted conspiracy theories about migrant communities.
It followed the news that the TdA gang in Aurora, Colo., had overtaken an apartment building. Trump visited the city after video shared online showed a group of armed men at an apartment complex shortly before someone was shot.
Trump used the incident as an argument that fueled his immigration plans and helped familiarize the group in the U.S.
The Biden administration deemed TdA as a transnational criminal organization last year, and dozens of arrests were made among the group in January as some of Trump’s first immigration actions.
In his proclamation enacting the Alien Enemies Act over the weekend, Trump said all Venezuelan citizens who are older than 14 and are not “actually naturalized or lawful permanent” U.S. residents are liable to be arrested, “restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.”
Legal ramifications
Trump’s proclamation came just hours after a judge temporarily blocked the removal of five Venezuelan the administration said are connected to TdA.
Then, just shortly after Trump’s announcement involving the wartime act, the federal judge expanded his ruling and prevented the removal of all individuals deemed eligible for removal under Trump’s order for 14 days.
The order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” Boasberg said.
A day later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced hundreds of TdA members were deported under the act, defying the federal judge’s order.
Rubio had negotiated an agreement with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, who agreed to imprison the gang in a prisoner swap.
The Trump administration acknowledged the flight in a court filing Sunday, but insisted the plane had already left U.S. jurisdiction by the time Boasberg issued his order.
