Alien Enemies Act of 1798 Invoked! (Updated)

Step right up! Behold our two-faced oligarch. See his wizardry. Watch his sleight of three hands. Hear his twisted words. Three for a nickel. Two for a dime.

The president invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a farce. His Executive Order issued Friday and the proclamation will not stand judicial review. Here is the proclamation.

It is important for you to see how he tries to pull the wool over your eyes. Let’s dissect that. The convicted felon twists the words and thoughts in our law to bend them to his felonious intent. Let me begin with the law. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is codified law. Here is the United States Code (USC) with emphasis added to show the words jerkbait is stretching and lying about.

Title 50 USC Chapter 3 § 21 - Restraint, regulation, and removal

Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event,…

These preconditions (pretexts) of the code have not been met. saying they have by contorting reality will not fly. A proclamation by the President suggesting otherwise is a fraudulent misrepresentation. What is he missing from the U.S. Code?

• declared war

• any foreign nation or government (1)

• any invasion

• predatory incursion

• against the territory

• any foreign nation or government (2)

This is what jerkbait said in his statement:

“Over the years, Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA, The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States.”

Trump’s posits an imaginary “hybrid criminal state”? There’s no such thing. Trump posits an invasion and an incursion. There is no invasion or a predatory incursion. No nation or government is doing anything against the territory of the United States.

Trump simply lies. A criminal gang is not a nation.

I am sure you remember, as I do, that Poncho Villa crossed the southern border attacking US cities. Poncho, below in military garb, had a military militia while Mexico was in a revolution. He had to be routed from U.S. territory.

The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially as the Mexican Expedition, was a U.S. military operation against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917. This was during the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920. Poncho Villa made incursions. No doubt.

Trump’s order came out Friday, March 14. To the day, this is 109 years after President Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to start the Mexican Expedition. No one appealed Wilson’s order. We were attacked, clearly.

Apache scouts were used and Pershing routed Villa’s army, but never caught him. The Mexican Army intervened and Pershing helped them.

Few know that in exchange for his retirement from hostilities, Villa was granted a 25,000-acre hacienda in Canutillo, Chihuahua, by Mexico’s national government. The last remaining 200 guerrillas and veterans of Villa's militia who were still loyal to him would reside with him in his new hacienda as well, and the Mexican government also granted them a pension that totalled 500,000 gold pesos. The 50 guerrillas who still remained in Villa's small cavalry were allowed to serve as Villa's personal bodyguards.

Villa was assassinateod in 1923 by political opponents after Villa had discussed entering politics.

Nothing educes or proves that Trump’s “hybrid criminal state” has ever existed in the World’s history. It very well could be that a convicted felon is making stuff up to gain dictatorial powers. That seems much more likely.

You need to know that con artist Trump will try anything and everything through Executive Orders. He will throw those at the wall to see if those will stick. Most of Trump’s executive orders will not stick or stand on their own two feet. The ACLU appealed Trump’s Friday executive order on Saturday. (Democracy Docket joined ACLU’s suit.)

Fast acting U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in the District of Columbia, quickly blocked officials on Saturday from deporting Venezuelans under the proclamation after the civil rights groups had filed a challenge earlier that Saturday. As he issued his ruling, the judge said he heard that “flights are actively departing” and ordered the Trump Administration to halt immediately the removals and return to the United States any flights that are in the air. Trump’s officials refused to tell the judge the status of flights due to “national security concerns” aka contemptuous BS. Today, the judge has them back in court. It appears his order was ignored. Expect fireworks. This post from Anand Giridharadas has the details:

This post from has the detailed timelines of the flights:

What is Trump doing wrong? Due process is a right these immigrants have. Trump wants to play illegally the big bully. He is wasting our money and our time.

Trump is supported by Steven Miller who writes and directs the anti-immigrant campaign for Trump.

Miller’s lies are all over the proclamation. In interviews he direct the interviewer away from the proclamation and points attention to the authority granted by the Act. The interviewers are not astute enough to catch the sleight of hand. Judge Boasberg is smart enough to see it.

The Road Ahead. Trump already asked our military to shoot our citizens on the streets, “Can we shoot them in the legs?”), but the military refused. Now he plans to arrest protestors. You know about how far with this that Trump will go, but no one knows what will unfold. Grab a flashlight, because we are at a dark fork on this American road.

Understanding will become a bridge. We all should have affinity with that need. Thank you for finding my voice. You have given that place and meaning by just being here. That is real, heart-felt sentiment because I am still emotionally that little boy from Dothan, Alabama that started first grade there in 1955, but lived in Japan, Germany, and Iran, and all over the U.S. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help HotButtons become self-sustaining.