America has entered a flow blown constitutional crisis as Trump challenges the authority of the courts. Over the weekend Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 which is a wartime power that largely allows the President to deport non-citizens without due process. This order doesn’t just target those who are here illegally, it also targets those here legally including people with green cards, permanent residency, tourist visas, student visas, and on and on. The last time this was used was during World War 2 to place people with German, Italian, and especially Japanese ancestry in concentration camps. Even those with US citizenship were placed in these camps. This time, Trump invoked this to deport people who are supposedly associated with a Venezuelan gang to a prison in El Salvador without due process or any recourse. ICE gets to make that determination without any real legal process, meaning it’s impossible to be certain any of these people have actually committed any actual crimes. Furthermore the government hasn’t even released their names, or said why it thinks these people are gang members. We do not know who the government just sent to El Salvador, there could have been US citizens that were deported. A judge stepped in immediately to temporarily block Trump from using the law because the US is not in a state of war and there is no precedent for invoking it in peacetime. The only times it has ever been invoked were during the war of 1812, World War 1, and World War 2. When the judge gave the order, deportation flights were already underway so they ordered them to turn around or if they’ve already landed – to return the people back to the United States, – but the White House ignored the order followed through with deporting the accused to El Salvador. The Trump administration says the court has no lawful basis to issue its order so it chose to ignore it, claiming that this is partially because the deportation planes were over international waters at the time. A defense that many say is not valid because US aircraft are subjected to US laws no matter where they are. One critic wrote “if they can grab anyone they want, stick them on a plane, and then say US law and judicial review doesn’t exist over international waters then no one in America has ANY Constitutional rights anymore.” So in times like these, it’s important that you know your rights. You have first and second amendment rights. These rights are not afforded to you by the government but by God himself.