JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Nearly 300 Venezuelans are in El Salvador tonight after being deported from the United States without a hearing under a rarely used 18th century law and despite a federal judge's order blocking the move.

This morning, El Salvador and President Nayib Bukele posted a video on X showing them arriving and being taken into custody.

The Trump administration says they're members of a notorious Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua and summarily deported them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

They landed in El Salvador just hours after a federal judge blocked the administration from using that law to deport anyone and ordered any planes that had taken off to turn around.

Katherine Yon Ebright is a council at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Katherine, what do you make of that?

The judge said these planes had to turn around, and clearly they didn't.

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT, Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice: I think that's a real challenge for the rule of law, our system of checks and balances.

I do think that part of this is that this is a district court, not a Court of Appeals.

And I should hope that as this case progresses, as we move past the temporary restraining order or the judge's order in this case at this time, that the federal government's compliance with the court's orders becomes serious and robust, again consistent with our system of checks and balances.

JOHN YANG: What is the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and how has it been used in the past?

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: The Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority.

It is not an immigration authority, particularly not in peacetime.

It allows the president, when there's a declared war, an invasion, or predatory incursion.

Those are acts of war, to regulate, detain and deport individuals who do not have U.S.

Citizenship, who are from the country with which we're at war.

And consistent with this being a wartime authority, it's only been used in three conflicts, the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

Reviving this kind of law, particularly again for peacetime immigration enforcement, is wildly inappropriate.

JOHN YANG: Under a declared war or invasion.

Now, President Trump, in his Executive Order, justified using this law by saying that these gang members have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.

In your view, is that enough to use this law?

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: That's trumped up rhetoric.

What we're seeing from Tren de Aragua, to the extent that it is in the United States, is criminal activity.

And certainly criminal activity should be taken seriously.

And individuals who are members of this gang or individuals who are committing serious crimes in the United States can be detained and then deported under peacetime immigration law.

You do not need to turn to a wartime authority from 1798, last used for internment in World War II, to address criminal activity or unlawful migration.

And I will say that the proclamation that the President issued does cover people who are lawfully present in the United States.

And so you can't say that invoking the Alien Enemies Act is actually about unlawful migration while saying that we're going to target people who are here lawfully.

JOHN YANG: Last night, the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said that the court order puts the public and law enforcement at risk.

What do you say to that?

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: The way that the court order was announced and written is it only applies to individuals who are in custody already.

And so what risk is posed by people who are already detained for having undertaken criminal activity or being suspected of gang membership.

And so there is no way, shape or form in which there is an imminent or ongoing public safety or national security risk that emanates from the order that the judge issued.

JOHN YANG: What could the ACLU do about the Venezuelans who landed in El Salvador despite the judge's order?

Is there anything, any recourse?

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: The judge was quite clear that once individuals are in El Salvador, they fall beyond the court's jurisdiction.

I think ACLU can and should raise with the judge the noncompliance, however, with the judge's order and see what avenues are available to try to ensure that the government does comply with future orders, including, you know, comply with the order that's already on the books.

JOHN YANG: What do you think the significance, the larger significance is of the president invoking this act?

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: As I've said, it's a wartime authority.

It cannot, should not be used for peacetime immigration enforcement.

I think on the ground, there are Venezuelan immigrant communities, there are U.S. citizens of Venezuelan descent who are worried that they're going to be targeted, wrongly accused of being members of Tren de Aragua deported without evidence, without a hearing.

And that's the kind of thing that is, frankly, unAmerican, targeting people without their rights based on where they were born, what they look like.

And yet that is the moment that we're in.

And my hope is that the courts shut this down promptly because not only is this an abuse of a law, this is a use of it that does not square with the text or the history of the law.

It is a betrayal of American values.

JOHN YANG: Katherine Yon Ebright of the Brennan Center for Justice, thank you very much.

KATHERINE YON EBRIGHT: Thank you.