Trump White House could let federal agents search homes without warrants under Alien Enemies Act

Justice Department official says ‘terrorists don’t get to hide behind closed doors’ as legal experts sound alarm

Alex Woodward
in New York
Saturday 22 March 2025 01:40 GMT

Lawyers for Donald Trump’s administration are considering whether his invocation of an 18th century wartime law allows federal law enforcement officers to enter homes without a warrant.

The president has deployed the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport, without due process, alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials, however, have admitted that many of the immigrants flown to a prison in El Salvador last weekend don’t have criminal records.

Trump is relying on the law for only the fourth time in U.S. history. It was most recently used to detain Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, during the Second World War.

“Terrorists don’t get to hide behind closed doors,” said an official with the Department of Justice in a statement to The Independent from the White House.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-search-warrant-fourth-amendment-b2719701.html