Trump Deploys the Alien Enemies Act: The Law has Repeatedly Passed Muster at the Supreme Court; The Alien Enemies Act of 1798: An Explainer of the Law Trump May Invoke

Trump deploys the Alien Enemies Act

The law has repeatedly passed muster at the Supreme Court

On Jan. 20, President Trump issued an executive order starkly reminding us that international criminal cartels “have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has … flooded the [U.S.] with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs” and that the cartels “functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across” our southern border.

A year and a half ago, Mr. Trump’s campaign promised the American people that if elected, he would “invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected gang members, drug dealers or Cartel Members from the U.S.” On Jan. 20, Mr. Trump took the first step in fulfilling that promise.

What is the Alien Enemies Act? Enacted in 1798, the AEA was designed to prepare us for a feared invasion by France, then in the throes of the French Revolution. Unlike the other infamous “Alien and Sedition Acts,” the AEA received wide bipartisan support, including from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and is still good law. It provides that when the U.S. is in a declared war or when “any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the [U.S.] by any foreign nation or government,” all nationals of the hostile nation at least 14 years old (unless having become naturalized citizens) may be summarily “apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies” at the president’s discretion. The statutory procedures and rights normally afforded to aliens, which would make the expeditious removal of large numbers of enemy aliens impossible, do not apply to enemy aliens subject to the AEA. The law has been employed most notably during the War of 1812 and during World Wars I and II and has repeatedly passed muster at the Supreme Court.

After the Trump campaign’s announcement, I investigated whether the AEA could indeed be used to detain and remove foreign gang and cartel members. I fretted about its chances in federal court. After all, the AEA was conceived of in the context of a traditional conflict between nations and can be triggered only by a declared war or an invasion or predatory incursion by a foreign nation or government. Could the nefarious activities of cartels within our country qualify as “invasions” or “predatory incursions”? If so, how could they be considered as carried out by foreign nations or governments? —>READ MORE HERE

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798: An Explainer of the Law Trump May Invoke:

The act allows the government to detain or remove foreign nationals without a hearing in times of war or invasion.

President Donald Trump may dust off a centuries-old law to expedite the deportation of foreign national gangs and cartel members to help secure the U.S. border.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to “invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.”

The Alien Enemies Act is part of the larger Alien and Sedition Acts, which Congress enacted during John Adams’s presidency when the United States was on the brink of war with France. It is a sweeping law that, when invoked, grants the president extraordinary power.

On his first day in office, Trump signed 10 border-related executive actions, including an executive order that states that the president may invoke the Alien Enemies Act to stop “any invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a qualifying actor.”

Two conditions must be met to invoke the act, said Joshua Treviño, chief transformation officer for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that analyzes policy.

First, there must be a war, invasion, or predatory incursion of U.S. territory. Second, the invasion or hostile act must be committed by a foreign government.

The Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times in more than 200 years. It was last used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II to create Japanese internment camps after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment camps have since been condemned by civil rights groups.

The act was initially used to stop French people in the United States from agitating for war.

Treviño said he believes that terrorist groups acting as foreign powers or operating in association with foreign governments could meet the requirements needed to invoke the law.

“When you look at cartel activity, then we are being invaded,” he said.

If an organization can kill Americans on U.S. soil and operate with foreign state support, it’s easy to make the argument that they are invading the country, he said. —>READ MORE HERE

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