A federal judge is stepping in to block Donald Trump as the president tried to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up mass deportations of migrants. RELATED: President Donald Trump Imposes Immediate Retaliatory Sanctions,

A federal judge barred the Trump administration Saturday from carrying out deportations under a sweeping 18th century law that the president invoked hours earlier to speed removal of Venezuelan gang members from the United States.

Trump administration challenged the restraining order, arguing that blocking a presidential act before its announcement would undermine executive authority.

President Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II, granting himself sweeping powers under a centuries-old law to deport people associated with a Venezuelan

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua members. A federal judge later ordered the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off.

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from using a 227-year-old law meant to protect the US during wartime to carry out mass deportations of Venezuelans. Trump on Saturday proclaimed immigrants belonging to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua were "conducting irregular warfare" against the US and that he would deport them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Claiming the United States was being invaded by a Venezuelan gang, President Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. A judge's order delays deportations.