Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

 

This is the official document from 1798.

What is the Alien Enemies Act?

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the 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 have done nothing wrong, have evinced no signs of disloyalty, and are lawfully present in the United States. It is an overbroad authority that may violate constitutional rights in wartime and is subject to abuse in peacetime.

Has the Alien Enemies Act been used in the past?

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. The law is best known for its role in Japanese internment, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress, presidents, and the courts have apologized.

Under what conditions can the president invoke the Alien Enemies Act?

The president may invoke the Alien Enemies Act in times of “declared war” or when a foreign government threatens or undertakes an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against U.S. territory. The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war, so the president must wait for democratic debate and a congressional vote to invoke the Alien Enemies Act based on a declared war. But the president need not wait for Congress to invoke the law based on a threatened or ongoing invasion or predatory incursion. The president has inherent authority to repel these kinds of sudden attacks — an authority that necessarily implies the discretion to decide when an invasion or predatory incursion is underway.

The Bonehead-in-Cheese thought it would be a "good idea" to invoke this act in order to speed up his mass deportation of "illegal aliens". 

You remember.  "Bad hombres."

Thankfully the courts are stepping in and, for the time being, putting the breaks on his shenanigans.  AGAIN.

His biggest problem with invoking this war time act, aside from the narrow scope of it, in March 2025,  we're NOT at war with ANY country right now.  That's one of Congress' jobs, to invoke and call it a "war." 

Now, of course Trump has said, "We've been invaded by these thugs, criminals and gang members."  Makes him sound tough, which we know, he isn't. 

And then ICE isn't specifically targeting any "gang members", but people he and his admenstruation "perceive to be gang members.  Big difference.

US District Judge James Boasberg

Judge Boasberg has called out the Trump Admenstruation for its handling of undocumented immigrants and their swift, no-due-process expulsion from the U.S. For their part the administration has stumbled, hemmed and hahhed, grasping at straws to come up with a valid, real reason(s) for those deportations.  

*Crickets.*

Stay Tuned.