Politics Politics Trump to invoke wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out deportations to Guantanamo

President Trump is planning to invoke a wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as soon as Friday to authorize the summary deportation of some migrants, including to Guantanamo Bay, escalating his government-wide immigration crackdown, multiple U.S. officials familiar with the plan told CBS News.

The 227-year-old law gives presidents the extraordinary power to order the arrest, detention and deportation of noncitizens who are 14 years or older and come from countries staging an "invasion or predatory incursion" of the U.S.

Mr. Trump is expected to cite the 18th-century statute to order the swift detention and deportation of suspected members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang with prison origins that his administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Officials have made preparations to send suspected gang members to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, soon after Mr. Trump invokes the Alien Enemies Act, two of the U.S. officials said. At Mr. Trump's direction, officials have been detaining some migrants awaiting deportation at the naval base, though the holding facilities were left empty earlier this week.

Those subject to the Alien Enemies Act would not be allowed to have a court hearing or an asylum interview since they would be processed under an emergency, wartime authority — not immigration law. Instead, they would be eligible to be detained and deported, with little to no due process, under Title 50, the section of the U.S. code housing America's war and defense laws.

CNN first reported Mr. Trump's plans to invoke the law as early as Friday.

The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked only a few times in U.S. history, including during World War II, when the government used it to surveil and detain Italian, German and Japanese immigrants in the U.S.

Its invocation to target migrants from countries with which the U.S. is not actively at war is almost certain to face legal challenges.

Mr. Trump previewed his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act in an executive order issued on his first day back at the White House. It directed the secretaries of state and homeland security to plan for the potential invocation of the law and prepare facilities "necessary to expedite the removal" of those subject to it.

"By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities," Mr. Trump said in his inaugural address.

CBS News reached out to representatives of the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-alien-enemies-act-1798-deportations-guantanamo/

 

Administration Officials Believe Order Lets Immigration Agents Enter Homes Without Warrants
It remains unclear whether the Trump administration will apply the law in this way. But such an interpretation, experts say, would infringe on basic civil liberties.

Trump administration lawyers have determined that an 18th-century wartime law the president has invoked to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang allows federal agents to enter homes without a warrant, according to people familiar with internal discussions.

The disclosure reflects the Trump administration’s aggressive view of presidential power, including setting aside a key provision of the Fourth Amendment that requires a court order to search someone’s home.

It remains unclear whether the administration will apply the law in this way, but experts say such an interpretation would infringe on basic civil liberties and raise the potential for misuse. Warrantless entries have some precedent in America’s wartime history, but invoking the law in peacetime to pursue undocumented immigrants in such a way would be an entirely new application, they added.

“It undermines fundamental protections that are recognized in the Fourth Amendment, and in the due process clause,” said Christopher Slobogin, a law professor at Vanderbilt University.


Last week, Mr. Trump quietly signed a proclamation invoking the law, known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. It grants him the authority to remove from the United States foreign citizens he has designated as “alien enemies” in the cases of war or an invasion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/trump-alien-enemies-immigration-agents.html

 

That's not what the law says

 

I know Trump thinks he can just change the law nilly willy because the SC.

 

He's already defying judges orders so yeah we are seeing it and will see it more.

 

The SC will try and protect themselves. Roberts already put it out there with his rebuke of impeaching judges. The SC judges treasure their power over Trump any day of the week.

Trump though is openly defying judges orders. He will likely defy SC judges orders should they come down. There really isn't anything that can be done to actually stop him because the Republican led Congress and Senate won't impeach him. That's the only way. Judges can't do anything to him as it is.

It's going to play out like it is already. He will keep defying orders, do what he wants, and issue pardons where needed, or have his lawyers argue that those working under him are also protected by his immunity.