DEPORTATIONTrump Is Using the Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants – but the 18th-century Law Has Been Invoked Only During Times of War
The Alien Enemies 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.
As President Donald Trump often promised during his 2024 presidential campaign, on March 15, 2025, he invoked an obscure 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act to justify deporting 137 Venezuelans he says are associated with a Venezuelan gang.
A federal judge swiftly blocked the deportations and ordered the planes carrying Venezuelans heading to El Salvador to return. But the White House said that the court order came too late on a Saturday night, after it had already sent the Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador.
The Justice Department has appealed the federal judge’s decision and is arguing that the en-route planes carrying the immigrants to El Salvador were outside of the judge’s jurisdiction.
“Oopsie. Too late,” Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, posted on the social media platform X on March 16, in a message that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted.
Legal analysts were trying to determine where the planes carrying the Venezuelans were shortly before 7 p.m. on March 15, when the judge issued the order stopping their removal, in an attempt to determine if the Trump administration had violated the judge’s order.
The Alien Enemies 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 227-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 without legal authorization in the U.S. That’s because the law lets presidents bypass court review of the deportation.
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 to be against 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.
