Pam Bondi Stands By Use of Alien Enemies Act For Swift Deportations: 'It's Modern-Day Warfare'

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Attorney General Pam Bondi is standing by the Trump administration's decision to invoke the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, bypassing regular channels and depriving them from a court hearing.

Speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Bondi said the country is currently engulfed in "modern-day warfare" and that the administration is going to "continue to fight that and protect American citizens every single step of the way."

Bondi went on to say that the wartime act was justified in this case because those targeted for deportation were members of Venezuelan-born gang Tren de Aragua and they posed a safety risk.

Family members of several deportees have denied their loved ones are part the gang, claiming in some cases that they don't have criminal history in the U.S. or abroad, and in others that they were targeted for tattoos they have even though Tren de Aragua is not believed to have any such identifiers.

Trump border czar Tom Homan, however, rejected the arguments, saying on Sunday that "a lot of gang members don't have criminal histories just like a lot of terrorists are not in any terrorist database."

Trump officials have also linked the gang with authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro's regime, with White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz saying that the "alien sedition act fully applies because we have also determined that this group is acting as a proxy of the Maduro regime."

"Maduro is deliberately emptying his prisons in a proxy manner to influence an attack on the United States," Waltz added.

However, he New York Times reported last week that a recent intelligence assessment contradicts that claim and concluded that is not the case. The assessment, which represents the consensus of multiple intelligence agencies, reportedly determined that the gang was neither directed by the Venezuelan government nor committing crimes in the United States on its behalf.

The report found no evidence supporting that assertion and described the gang as disorganized, lacking the capacity to execute state-directed operations. It also noted that Venezuelan security forces have engaged in violent clashes with the group, suggesting hostility rather than coordination.

Analysts assigned a "moderate" confidence level to this conclusion however, citing limited available intelligence on the group. The CIA and NSA supported the finding, while the FBI partially dissented, arguing that there was a connection between the gang and the Maduro government. The other agencies deemed that information unreliable.