Photo of Venezuelan migrant to the United States is led by El Salvadoran prison guard by White House X (formerly known as twitter) account on March 16, 2025.
Maryknoll OGC Speaks Out Against Invocation of Alien Enemies Act of 1798
President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 the weekend of March 15 and sent over 200 Venezuelan migrants to prison in El Salvador, despite a court order against it. The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns response to the concerning series of events is below.
Leer la declaración en español aquí.
March 17, 2025
Washington, DC – The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns expresses concern regarding the Trump Administration’s use of an 18th-century law and disregard of a court order this weekend to imprison people in a foreign prison, unaccountable to U.S. laws, without charges or trial, with discrimination on the basis of nationality.
As Catholics, we believe in the sanctity of human life and dignity. The administration’s recent action violates these principles to the extreme.
Maryknoll missioners have witnessed suffering and injustice caused by the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The last time the law was invoked was in World War II when over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans were forcibly removed and held in concentration camps in a dark era in U.S. history. Maryknoll missioners served this population in the camps as pastors and educators, running churches and schools. Echoes of that grim moment reverberate today, in peacetime no less, with lessons of the past going unlearned.
We call on the president to rescind the invocation of the Act and instead uphold our nation’s refugee and immigration laws.
As Catholics, we believe in the sanctity of human life and dignity. The administration’s recent action violates these principles to the extreme.