President Trump’s recent move against Venezuela and its transnational gangs is the kind of decisive leadership this country has been starved for. In March 2025 the White House formally invoked the Alien Enemies Act and publicly identified the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua and the so-called Cártel de los Soles as grave national-security threats, arguing they have infiltrated migration flows and are operating in tandem with the Maduro regime.
When the administration began removing alleged gang members and transferring detainees to El Salvador under agreements with President Nayib Bukele, critics screeched while American families suffered from rising crime and drug flows. The U.S. did send flights carrying alleged members to El Salvador and worked with that government’s high-security detention center to keep dangerous actors off our streets, a hard-nosed approach that prioritizes citizen safety over performative legalism.
Predictably, the left’s legal machine rushed in to protect the same forces that threaten our communities, and federal judges have issued rulings limiting the administration’s use of the 1798 statute. Courts in multiple districts, and even an appellate panel, have questioned whether the century-old law applies to non-state criminal gangs rather than formal wartime enemies, creating an unnecessary legal obstacle to swift security action.
Conservatives must be blunt: Democrats and woke judges would rather fashion novel legal theories to block deportations than stand with working Americans who want an end to the flood of drugs and violence. The White House evidence links the Maduro regime and its narco-state apparatus to trafficking and corruption that directly harms U.S. neighborhoods, and the administration is right to treat those networks as part of a broader security challenge.
Some in the media called Trump’s use of old statutes unprecedented, and the Supreme Court has already stepped in to clarify limited procedural points — but procedure should not become a safe harbor for criminals and cartel collaborators. When the high court temporarily allowed deportations to proceed under conditions that preserve habeas protections, it signaled that national-security judgments by the executive deserve serious weight, especially when evidence points to coordinated criminal enterprises.
Patriots should welcome an administration that treats threats seriously and uses the tools available to defend our citizens rather than apologize for geopolitical weakness. Let the opponents shout about “meddling” while families at home contend with poisoned drugs, human trafficking, and gang violence; defending the homeland is not meddling, it’s governing.
If Congress and the courts truly care about the rule of law and public safety, they will back policies that remove violent foreign gang members, cut off narco-state pipelines, and restore order at the border — not empower the lawyers who prolong the pain of ordinary Americans. This is a moment for American strength, not moral equivocation, and conservatives should stand squarely behind leadership that prioritizes the safety and prosperity of our country.
