Donald Trump Invokes Controversial 1700s Wartime Law Used to Justify Japanese Internment Camps

Donald Trump Invokes Controversial 1700s Wartime Law Used to Justify Japanese Internment Camps

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a widely condemned detainment law designed to be used in the throes of war. Under Trump, it could be applied to target any non-citizen whom he deems a threat

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office on Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty

President Donald Trump has invoked a 227-year-old wartime law in order to help carry out mass detainments and deportations in the United States, fulfilling a controversial 2024 campaign promise.

On Saturday, March 15, Trump announced that he will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a widely condemned immigration law that gives the president sweeping powers to bypass equal protection and due process while targeting foreign citizens.

When it has been invoked, it has led to human rights crises that history now looks down upon — but the law was never formally repealed by Congress.

The directive specifically targets members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, and authorizes removal of all Venezuelan citizens ages 14 and older who are not U.S. citizens or “lawful” permanent residents and are affiliated to Tren de Aragua.

Newly appointed ''border czar'' TOM HOMAN speaks to assembled law enforcement at the dining hall outside Eagle Pass, Texas on November 26, 2024. Homan later served meals with Gov. Greg Abbott. Border Czar Tom Homan Visits Texas Border, Eagle Pass, Tx, USA - 26 Nov 2024
‘Border czar’ Tom Homan, whom President Donald Trump tasked with carrying out a mass deportation program. Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Trump previously vowed to use the Alien Enemies Act after visiting Aurora, Colo., on Oct. 11, when he delivered a headline-making campaign speech disparaging immigrants.

Following the campaign rally, he posted on social media, “We are now known, all throughout the world, as OCCUPIED AMERICA…But to everyone here in Colorado and all across our nation, I make you this vow: November 5th, 2024 will be LIBERATION DAY in America.”

Referencing a few prominent instances where American people were killed by non-citizens, Trump said he “will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.”

Without naming any target in particular, the former president continued by saying, “To expedite removals of this savage gang, I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil.”

He then vaguely accused his 2024 election opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, of inflicting “violence and terror,” falsely painting her as the one responsible for Joe Biden‘s U.S. border policy and a years-long rise in illegal border crossings.

U.S. Vice President-elect former Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as they arrive to inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States.
J.D. Vance and Donald Trump at their 2025 inauguration ceremony in the U.S. Capitol.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is best remembered as the law that allowed Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt to place Japanese, Italian and German immigrants into internment camps during World War II, whether or not they were affiliated with military actions from their countries of origin.

“The Alien Enemies Act and complementing authorities have allowed presidents to target people on the basis of their identity, not their conduct or the threat they pose to national security,” wrote Katherine Yon Ebright, a national security expert for the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, in October.

“In 1988, when Congress apologized and provided reparations for Japanese internment, it acknowledged that the policy was rooted in ‘racial prejudice’ and ‘wartime hysteria,’ not valid security concerns,” she continued in her article, which centered around the dangers of the overly broad 18th-century law. “Congress would later describe Italian internment as a ‘fundamental injustice,’ and the Department of Justice would recognize that German noncitizens had been targeted ‘based on their ancestry.’ “

Though the Alien Enemies Act is intended to be used only in wartime, and apply only when official governments have threatened military action, a president could conceivably weaponize the law to apply to people hailing from any country they deem to be “invading” the U.S. — which is how Trump has described several nations whose residents have sought refuge in the States.

People familiar with the Trump campaign’s early policy deliberations previously told Rolling Stone that he came up with a “very convoluted and crazy” theory for how he can abuse the law to justify mass deportations, even if the U.S. is not at war with a foreign government.

The Alien Enemies Act

Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years and upward … shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies

Trump has long been known for spouting anti-immigration rhetoric, but his new mass deportation program — helmed by “border czar” Tom Homan — has sparked concern about the safety of immigrants and people of color who are perceived to be in the country illegally.

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