Monitoring democratic institutions through public records
Using Military Inside the U.S. — Week of Mar 17, 2025
The military is supposed to fight foreign enemies, not police American citizens. There are strict laws about when troops can be used inside the U.S.
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This week, President Trump signed a proclamation activating the Alien Enemies Act—a law from 1798 last used to intern Japanese, German, and Italian nationals during World War II—to target the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The proclamation describes the gang's criminal activities as an "invasion" and "irregular warfare," language that invokes the President's war powers rather than the normal criminal justice system. It directs all executive departments and agencies to assist in apprehending people identified under this authority.
This might matter because laws separating the military from domestic policing—most importantly the Posse Comitatus Act—exist specifically to prevent armed forces from being used against people inside the United States. Reframing criminal gang activity as wartime invasion could open a legal pathway around those protections, even if no troops are deployed immediately. Separately, a memorandum on legal system abuses directs the Attorney General to investigate and punish lawyers who challenge government immigration enforcement, which could discourage the legal challenges that normally keep executive power in check.
There are important alternative explanations to consider. The most likely is that the Alien Enemies Act proclamation is primarily a legal tool for faster deportations, not an actual step toward military deployment on American streets—ICE and other civilian agencies would handle enforcement. It is also possible that courts will block or limit implementation, as they have already begun reviewing similar actions. The memorandum targeting lawyers may simply aim to address genuine fraud in asylum cases, though its scope extends well beyond fraud to encompass broad categories of litigation against the government.
The combination of expanding wartime legal authority for domestic use while simultaneously pressuring the lawyers who would challenge such authority is notable, though it could be coincidental rather than coordinated.
Limitations: This analysis is based on AI review of officially published government documents. It does not reflect what is actually happening on the ground, how courts may rule, or whether military assets have been operationally deployed. Only 16 documents were reviewed this week, a small sample.