An executive order signed by President Trump over the weekend greenlit deportation flights carrying Venezuelan nationals accused without evidence of having gang ties.
The flights took off using an obscure wartime authority called the Alien Enemies Act.
William Banks is a Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs who specializes in military issues. He says the law was created in the 1790s, when the U.S. worried past conflict between Native American tribes and France could spill over to the new government. It has only reemerged during World War I and World War II.
“So for the Trump administration to raise it now, and to try to use that authority to try to deal with a criminal gang is pretty far-fetched. So the roadmap is unprecedented,” he said. “It’s quite rare and if the administration digs in its heels on the use of this authority and maintain that whatever the judge says they’re going to forward with the operation, then we have a crisis.”
Under the executive order, Venezuelans accused of having gang ties were stripped of due process and swiftly flown to El Salvador — despite an order from a judge barring the flight.
The ACLU has since announced legal action questioning whether the flight defied court orders.
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Pima County has paused all data center development as leaders consider new rules and regulations for their development. The Goldwater Institute believes that pause goes against state property rights, but county officials say its necessary to buy time to revise their code to stop unregulated data center construction. -
The constitutional reform requires presidential and gubernatorial candidates in Mexico to renounce any non-Mexican citizenship. -
Long before the National Science Foundation ever looked up to the starry sky searching for answers about the mysterious cosmos and universe, O’odhams like Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan stood atop I’oligam Du’ag — or Manzanita Shrub Mountain. -
On Monday, dozens of agents swarmed a stretch of private land where the activists had been camped in and around a centuries-old cottonwood tree. Contractors tore down the tree and agents made multiple arrests. -
Trucks began delivering about 200,000 gallons of water each day to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. The deliveries come more than a month after the devastating floods that damaged the Transcanyon Waterline, which supplies water from the canyon to the rest of the park.
