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Politics
Daniel Tichenor, Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon

Trump wants to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants – but the 18th-century law has been invoked only during times of war

Donald Trump United States James Madison Thomas Jefferson Woodrow Wilson World War II Franklin D Roosevelt World War I
Migrants crossing from Mexico into Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., are detained by U.S. Border Patrol officers on June 4, 2024. Katie McTiernan/Anadolu via Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump often said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he plans to launch the nation’s largest-ever mass deportation operation in his second term.

Trump has pledged to carry out this work by using an obscure 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

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