Trump Is About to Invoke This 18th Century Law to Make a Massive Move Against Illegal Immigration
President Donald Trump is reportedly set to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to facilitate the mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
The president repeatedly vowed to take such action on the campaign trail and after he was elected last year. Now, it appears the plan will be set in motion, according to CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene who reported the move in a post on X.
NEW: The Trump administration is expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a sweeping wartime authority, in the coming days, sources familiar w/ the move tell @priscialva @jmhansler & me
The move is designed to speed up the president’s mass deportation pledge
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) March 13, 2025
The announcement, which could be made as soon as tomorrow, will come in the form of a presidential proclamation
The move would likely pave the way for quicker removals of certain immigrants
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) March 13, 2025
During his second inaugural address, Trump declared that, “By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.”
It is unclear exactly how the administration will carry out this strategy, but there are indications that it will be used to target criminal gangs. A senior White House official told CNN in February that “Labeling Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization was the first step.”
Detentions and deportations that occur under the Alien Enemies Act do not go through the immigration court system, which provides immigrants the chance to seek relief and make their case to stay in the country. Experts have noted that the backlogged court system, where cases can take years, could be a significant obstacle to Trump’s mass deportation plans.
The Alien Enemies Act was originally intended to be used when the United States found itself at war with another country or if a foreign government has invaded, or threatened to invade, the U.S.
The law, enacted in 1798, remains in effect today but has rarely been used in the modern age. It grants the president sweeping authority to apprehend, restrain, and deport non-citizens who are citizens of a nation with which the U.S. is at war.
The president can issue a proclamation to order the apprehension, confinement, or removal of individuals from countries that are at war with the U.S. He can also impose restrictions on their conduct while they are in the country.
Individuals targeted under the law can challenge their detention in court, but they are not subject to the same due process that applies to U.S. citizens.
The act was used to detain and deport British nationals during the War of 1812. President Woodrow Wilson also used it to detain and deport German nationals during World War I.
In the leadup to this decision, several legal experts expressed doubts about whether using the act would hold up in court.
Experts told CNN last year that if the Trump administration does invoke the Alien Enemies Act, immigrant and civil rights advocates are likely to argue it’s illegal to use the law to detain and deport foreign nationals under these circumstances.
“There is no military invasion or military predatory incursion being perpetrated by an actual foreign nation or government,” says Katherine Yon Ebright of the Brennan Center at New York University. “And so, irrespective of how broadly or narrowly he would like to apply it, we would oppose any invocation as an abuse of a wartime authority.”
Jean Lantz Reisz, co-director of the immigration clinic at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, suggested that Trump “is citing this as a way to kind of bypass all of that due process and make it easier to arrest and deport people.”
Trump is expected to announce the presidential proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act later this week.
