DEPORTATIONSTrump Wants to Use the Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants – but the 18th-century Law Has Been Invoked Only During Times of War
President-elect Donald Trump often said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he planned to use an obscure 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out the nation’s largest-ever mass deportation operation ever. Why bother dusting off a 226-year-old law? Because the law lets presidents bypass immigration courts.
President-elect Donald Trump often said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he plans to launch the nation’s largest-ever mass deportation operation in his second term.
Trump has pledged to carry out this work by using an obscure 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The act empowers presidents to apprehend and remove foreign nationals from countries that are at war with the United States. U.S. presidents have issued executive proclamations and invoked this law three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. All three instances followed Congress declaring war.
Why bother dusting off a 226-year-old law?
Invoking the Alien Enemies Act could make it far easier for the Trump administration to quickly apprehend, detain and deport immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization. That’s because the law lets presidents bypass immigration courts.
In my view, if Trump uses the Alien Enemies Act to carry out his mass deportation plans, it almost certainly would trigger major court battles in which the text, early history and previous uses of this antiquated law take center stage.
Repressive Origins and Populist Backlash
The Alien Enemies Act traces back to the late 1700s, when the Federalists, an early political party, controlled Congress. The Federalists wanted strong national government as well as harmonious diplomatic and trade relations with Great Britain.
The Federalists became outraged when the French government began seizing U.S. merchant ships in the Caribbean that were trading with Britain, which France was waging war against at that time.
The opposing Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson, supported France in its fight against Great Britain.
The Federalists in Congress considered Jefferson’s pro-France position against the U.S. interests. They also were troubled that the Democratic-Republicans were backed by thousands of French and Irish immigrants who had some political clout in big cities such as Philadelphia and New York.
So in 1798 the Federalists tried to quell domestic opposition by passing the Alien and Sedition Acts, a series of controversial laws that banned political dissent by limiting free speech. The laws also made it harder for immigrants to become citizens.
One of these laws was the Alien Enemies Act, which gave presidents broad authority to control or remove noncitizens ages 14 or older if they had ties to foreign enemies during times of a declared war.