Claiming that the Nicolás Maduro regime has launched an invasion of the United States through a dangerous gang, President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked wartime powers contemplated in a centuries-old act to assume the authority to expedite the mass deportation of Venezuelans citizens.

Venezuela's government on Sunday blasted the U.S. implementation of a rarely used wartime law, rapidly blocked by a U.S. judge, to deport over 200 alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador.