Trump’s decision to invoke the Alien Enemies Act is being met with concerns from Venezuelan-Americans in San Diego, along with legal experts. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada reports.
President Trump’s Administration announced on Saturday the latest strategy to speed up deportations. He is preparing to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, targeting Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but some fear it will target all Venezuelans.
“It’s very difficult to try to understand what Mr. President thinks about it, but I will hope that he will remember, the best of Venezuelan people, are hard-working people,” Xiomara Molina said.
Molina is still trying to make sense of the president's vow to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, in order to target suspected Venezuelan gang members, drug dealers and cartel members.
She worries the law will cast a wider net, affecting all Venezuelans.
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“I do not belong to Tren de Aragua, I am a hard-working person. I am a person who gives positive help to the people, to the people what I work for, to the people that I serve,” Molina said.
Molina came to the U.S. nearly two decades ago. She has since embraced this country as her own, but she worries fellow Venezuelans looking for a better life, won’t have the same opportunity she once did.
The purpose of the 18th Century law was to deport citizens of countries the U.S. was at war with at the time, but the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.
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“There’s a lot speculation of how far Trump can go by you know, effectuating this Aliens Enemies Act, but truly this [is] something that’s going to have to be settled within the federal court because we’re not in a time of war, there’s no invasion by a specific group that’s predatory and those are very specific incursions that allows the president to use this act,” Alex Galvez, an immigration attorney, said.
Galvez said he worries about the implications it could have moving forward.
“Truly, it’s an extraordinary, extraordinary power that the [president] can use in order to deport immigrants in an expedited matter without a lot of checks and balances,” Galvez said.
“If they do have the qualifications to come, they do get their visas, they do get the proper papers to come to the country, why not?,” Molina said.
As a Venezuelan American, Molina is calling for fair treatment for all Venezuelan migrants. She’s hoping the tide will turn, since she said the situation is extremely tough in Venezuela and other countries people are migrating from.
A federal judge limited Trump's ability to deport five Venezuelans for 14 days under the act.
