A cornerstone of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign was his promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Details about how he will implement his plan are unclear. But President Trump said at a recent rally that he would use 18th century law to force mass deportations.
At an Oct. 11 rally in Reno, Nevada, President Trump said the deportation operation would begin in Aurora, Colorado, and would be called “Operation Aurora,” adding that immigrants were “trying to conquer us.”
At a campaign rally in Aurora earlier in the day, he said he would invoke the Hostile Alien Act of 1798 to expedite the removal of gang members and “target and dismantle all immigrant criminal networks operating on American soil.” said.
President Trump mentioned the Venezuelan gang Torren de Aragua, which he said had taken over “multiple apartment complexes” in Aurora. Claims that Venezuelan gangs have taken over Aurora began in August when a video of Spanish-speaking gunmen walking through an apartment complex in the city went viral. But local authorities say concerns about Venezuelan gangs in Aurora are “hugely exaggerated.”
Aurora police said they arrested members of the Torren de Aragua gang, but did not say they had taken over the apartment complex.
Here’s what we know about the 1798 law that President Trump has promised to invoke, and what legal experts say about his ability to use it for mass deportations.
What is the Alien Enemies Act of 1798?
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was part of a larger set of four laws, the Alien Act and the Sedition Act, passed by the United States fearing an impending war with France. The law strengthened citizenship requirements, criminalized speech critical of the government, and gave the president additional powers to deport noncitizens.
Three of these laws have been repealed or expired. The Alien Enemy Act is the only law still in force.
This law provides that if the United States is at war with a foreign state or if that foreign state “commits, attempts, or threatens” an invasion or attack legally known as an invasion, the president can attack the people from a “hostile nation or government.” It allows people to be detained and deported without a hearing. It is a “predatory invasion” against the United States.
Katherine Yon Ebright, an expert on constitutional war powers, said, “This law was enacted to prevent foreign espionage and sabotage during wartime, but it’s a law that doesn’t do anything wrong.” “The law can and has been applied to immigrants in the United States.” Researchers at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank at New York University School of Law, wrote in an Oct. 9 report for the Brennan Center for Justice.
The last time this law was invoked was during World War II.
U.S. presidents have invoked this law three times only during wartime.
War of 1812: Former President James Madison invoked this law against British nationals who were asked to report information such as their age, how long they had lived in the United States, and whether they had applied for citizenship. World War I: Former President Woodrow Wilson invoked this law against people from Germany and allied countries such as Austria-Hungary. World War II: Former President Franklin Roosevelt invoked the law “to detain potentially dangerous enemy aliens,” the National Archives said. It mainly included Germans, Italians, and Japanese. This law was used to place non-citizens of those countries in concentration camps. This law was not used to detain Japanese Americans. An executive order was used for this purpose.
Could President Trump use this law to carry out mass deportations?
President Trump cited enforcement of the 1798 law against Mexican drug cartels and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Legal experts said Trump does not have the authority to invoke the Alien Enemies Act against gang members or as a means of mass deportation.
There must be invasion or threat by a foreign government to trigger this law. The United States is not currently at war with any foreign government. Also, this law is not universally applicable to people in all countries.
“Invocation of this law as a powerful deportation power…is inconsistent with centuries of legislative, presidential, and judicial practice that support the Alien Hostiles Act as a wartime power,” Ebright wrote in his report. said. “Invoking it in peacetime to circumvent traditional immigration laws would be an astonishing abuse.”
President Trump and his allies have characterized the increase in illegal immigration under President Joe Biden as an invasion. Legal and immigration experts disagree with this characterization.
Illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the southern border are not invasions, George Mason University constitutional law professor Ilya Somin said in an Oct. 13 report in the online magazine Reason.
Legal experts said any attempt to use the Alien Enemies Act for mass deportations would likely be challenged in court. However, it is unclear whether the court will issue a ruling.
The last time a court heard a case related to the Alien Enemy Act was after World War II. Former President Harry Truman continued to invoke President Roosevelt’s law for many years after the war. At the time, the court ruled that whether the war was over and whether wartime powers had expired were “political questions” and therefore could not be decided by the court.
Similarly, some courts have previously stated that the definition of invasion is also a political issue.
President Trump has previously promised mass deportations.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to deport all immigrants living in the United States illegally. However, he was unable to do this.
When Trump took office, an estimated 11 million people were in the country illegally, according to Pew Research data. From fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2020, the Department of Homeland Security recorded 2 million deportations. (Fiscal year 2017 included former President Barack Obama’s roughly four-month administration.) By comparison, Obama carried out 3.2 million and 2.1 million deportations, respectively, during each term.
The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said in June that the Biden administration had carried out 4.4 million deportations, “more than any first term of any president since George W. Bush.” 5 million cases).”
Steve Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, wrote in an Oct. 14 newsletter that immigration laws that allow for deportation already exist. However, a major challenge in conducting mass repatriation operations is the lack of the resources necessary to locate, detain, and return large numbers of people.
“Relying on old laws will not solve resource problems,” Vladek said.
