US Election 2024: Donald Trump vows to revive Alien Enemies Act in final rally. All about the Act here

Donald Trump held his final rally in Macon, Georgia, on November 2, where he drew a large crowd to the Atrium Health amphitheatre. Trump sported a black-and-gold “Make America Great Again” cap and stuck to his characteristic themes, including controversial proposals related to immigration and crime. 

The former president, whose bid for the White House has been dominated by his increasingly hardline anti-immigration rhetoric, is vowing to use an centuries-old law to expedite the removal of undocumented migrants from the US. 

“I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,” he said at a recent rally in California, one of several in which he has brought it up. 

He has also suggested that the act could be used to end sanctuary cities, which limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Trump also suggested that he would pursue the death penalty for undocumented immigrants convicted of killing Americans.  

“The United States is now an occupied country. This is thousands of people all over our towns and cities,” he said. 

So what exactly does the act do, and how likely is Trump to be able to use it as promised? 

A look at Alien Enemies Act 

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the US President to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship.  

Although the law was enacted to prevent foreign espionage and sabotage in wartime, it can be — and has been — wielded against immigrants who are lawfully present in the United States.  

The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. In World Wars I and II, the law was a key authority behind detentions, expulsions, and restrictions targeting German, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese and Italian immigrants based solely on their ancestry.  

Although the Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked in major conflicts, Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Harry S Truman continued using the law after the end of hostilities in World Wars I and II. World War I ended in 1918, but the Wilson administration used the law to intern German and Austro-Hungarian immigrants until 1920. World War II ended in 1945, but the Truman administration used the law for internment and deportations until 1951.