The Trump administration is preparing to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime authority, to fast-track its sweeping mass deportation operation, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The Trump administration is preparing to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime authority, to fast-track its sweeping mass deportation operation, according to sources familiar with the plan. (

Image: AFP via Getty Images)

The Trump administration is preparing to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime authority, to fast-track its sweeping mass deportation operation, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Expected to be announced within days, the move would grant Trump extraordinary powers to detain and remove non-citizens without standard legal barriers. The decision marks one of the most aggressive immigration crackdowns in modern U.S. history and is likely to face fierce legal and political opposition.

The act was passed shortly after the U.S. had won its freedom from the British Empire and when they stood on the brink of war with their former French allies. According to the National Archives, the act contains four laws that severely limit the rights of foreign-born Americans.

Expected to be announced within days, the move would grant Trump extraordinary powers to detain and remove non-citizens without standard legal barriers. ( AFP via Getty Images)

According to the act, “Whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government … and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies.”

Former president John Adams passed the act as part of the four Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. According to Georgetown University Law Center professor Steve Vladeck, “There was a lot of fear-mongering about French supporters in the United States and about conspiracies to basically get the United States in on France’s side.”

The decision marks one of the most aggressive immigration crackdowns in modern U.S. history and is likely to face fierce legal and political opposition. ( AFP via Getty Images)

The laws have only been used three times in the history of the US, per NPR. During the War of 1812, all British nationals were forced by the U.S. government to report information including their age, length of time in the country, place of residence, family description and whether they had applied for naturalization.

During the horrific events of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson invoked the powers against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Finally, the powers were reportedly invoked by President Franklin Roosevelt after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The act was passed shortly after the U.S. had won its freedom from the British Empire and when they stood on the brink of war with their former French allies. ( AFP via Getty Images)

Trump has repeatedly told his fans that he will use the law in order to remove all illegal immigrants from the US. Three sources close to the president have revealed that the main target of these laws is members of the Venezuela gang Tren de Aragua gang, which was also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

“Labeling Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization was the first step,” a senior White House official told CNN. During the final weeks of his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to enact the laws.

“I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,” he said. Trump also made the promise to invoke the powers during his inauguration speech in January.

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