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The Trump administration’s decision to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to a prison designed to hold terrorists in El Salvador on March 15, 2025, has caused a widespread debate over the legality of the deportation and the scope of the president’s power. Trump has justified his actions by appealing to the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law created in 1798 to provide the president with the power to imprison and deport noncitizens during times of war. Since its establishment, the act has only been used during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II, and many question whether Trump was justified in invoking it.[1] In an official statement, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, claimed that “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”[2] However, it remains unclear whether Trump has the authority to violate the orders of a federal judge and deport immigrants to a foreign country.