Trump plans to use 1798 law to dismantle illegal immigrant gang Tren de Aragua — and kick criminals out of the US

Former President Donald Trump traveled to a gang-ravaged Denver suburb Friday to announce plans to invoke a 226-year-old law to dismantle and deport illegal immigrant criminals across the US.

The Republican nominee, 78, told supporters in Aurora, Colo. he would go after the Venezuelan gang “Tren de Aragua” (TdA), whose members have infiltrated the city of just under 400,000.

At least 10 soldiers of the violent prison gang have been arrested in Aurora, where criminals have wreaked havoc and even taken over apartment complexes.

Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Aurora, Colo. AP

“What are they doing to Colorado? They’re ruining your state,” Trump asked at the top of his speech before taking aim at his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Kamala has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the Third World,” Trump said.

“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” he went on, saying his administration will either “put these vicious and blood thirsty criminals in jail” or “get them the hell out of our country.”

“These are stone cold killers,” Trump added, urging Centennial State voters to turn out to protest what Democratic authorities have done “to the fabric of your culture.”

Two of the most heinous recent crimes believed to have involved illegal migrants were committed by members of TdA, authorities believe.

Jose Ibarra, the alleged killer of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, is a gang member — as are his two brothers, Homeland Security sources previously told The Post.

Additionally, the two migrant men accused of killing Houston 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray are suspected of having ties to the gang.

Trump spoke at length about Tren de Aragua and how the gang has impacted Aurora. AP
In a predawn sweep at the Palatia Apartments on the North Side, 20 individuals were detained. Some are believed to be members of the notorious Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. NEWS 4SA

In honor of those who died, Trump said, “we will have an Operation Aurora at the federal level to expedite the removals of these savage gangs.”

“I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798,” he continued, “to target and dismantle every criminal network operating on American soil.”

Trump also said he would implement a 10-year prison sentence for migrants who re-enter the US after being deported and impose the death penalty on illegal migrants who kill American citizens.

Homeland Security Investigations Las Cruces NM special agents turned over custody of a Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang member and suspect in the June 24 Denver jewelry heist to the Denver Sheriff Department. Facebook / Lidia Tena

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 lets the president authorize citizens of enemy nations to be “apprehended, restrained, secured and removed” if they are deemed a threat to the US during wartime.

The act was last used following the Dec 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, when Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered non-citizens from Japan, Germany and Italy to “preserve the peace towards the United States and to refrain from crime against the public safety, and from violating the laws of the United States and of the States and Territories thereof: and to refrain from actual hostility or giving information, aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States or interfering by word or deed with the defense of the United States or the political processes and public opinions thereof” — on pain of arrest, incarceration, or deportation.

The invocation of the act would, in theory, allow Trump to order summary deportation of illegal immigrants without first getting permission from an immigration judge.

Surveillance stills dated June 15, 2024 show unruly people filling the hallways of the Gateway Hotel in El Paso.

Any attempt by Trump to invoke the 18th century law will likely face legal challenges from immigration advocates and defense attorneys, who might argue it represents a violation of habeus corpus and due process — as well as the fact that the law was meant to take effect only in times of war.

Immigration enforcement officials celebrated Trump’s proposal, with one Border Patrol agent telling The Post: “F— yeah.”

“I think that’s awesome if he can enact it,” the agent added. “It’s far too long we’ve had sit by knowing that not everyone who enters illegally is a criminal, but having to let the scumbags in too. And they know they can hide behind this administration’s dream world of ‘These are oppressed people.’”

“Say less. I think it’s a great idea,” a second Border Patrol agent said.

Supporters cheer as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Aurora, Colo. AP

“This current administration left the borders wide open and these sophisticated cartels found ways to exploit it and profit. These gangs are a direct threat to the United States,” an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) source said Friday.

“All of this could’ve been avoided if ICE was able to do their job,” a second ICE source added.

Trump’s Colorado stop highlights the former president’s strategy of focusing on the border as one of his main closing arguments against Harris.

While Colorado is not considered a swing state at the presidential level, it is home to two congressional districts where races will help determine control of the House of Representatives in January 2025.

“My message today is very simple,” Trump said in Aurora, “no person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can ever be allowed to become the president of the United States.”