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For Mass Deportations, Trump Plans to Invoke 18th-Century Wartime Law, Last Used for World War II Internment Camps

Crime and Justice News

President Trump is set to test the limits of his immigration crackdown by invoking a wartime law to deport immigrants alleged to be gang members without court hearings, a broad authority that could supercharge his mass deportation push and potentially sweep in people not charged with crimes, Reuters reports. After taking office, Trump ordered military and immigration officials to be ready by Feb. 3 to implement the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War II. The move - which would almost certainly face legal challenges - could allow him to bypass due process rights and rapidly remove migrants. Opponents argue the law cannot be used simply to step up immigration enforcement outside of an actual conflict. “Desperate families coming to our border to seek refuge do not constitute an invasion by a foreign government within the meaning of the law,” said Lee Gelernt, a leading attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has put up legal challenges to many of Trump's actions.


U.S. immigration courts had a backlog of 3.6 million cases at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service, a jam that could hamper deportations. “Unless he figures out a way to bypass the immigration courts, mass deportation is an impossibility,” said John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under Barack Obama. “But if Alien Enemies is allowed to go into effect, then mass deportation becomes a potential reality.” The Alien Enemies Act could allow Trump to rapidly deport migrants deemed part of an “invasion or predatory incursion”- a novel use of a law previously only invoked in wartime. The White House said on Jan. 20 that it was beginning a process to designate criminal cartels and gangs, including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as terrorist organizations and to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang members. Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate reintroduced a bill in January that would repeal the Alien Enemies Act, pointing to its use in the internment of Americans and arguing it violates civil and individual rights. "We cannot allow antiquated laws to continue enabling discriminatory practices that harm immigrant communities," Representative Ilhan Omar said in a Jan. 22 statement related to the bill.

 

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