Trump plans to impose 18th century law used for 'internment camps' in World War II for mass deportations

Donald Trump is looking to impose an 18th century law last used to justify 'internment camps' in World War II for mass deportations.

Since his inauguration to the White House, Trump has been conjuring up new and old initiatives to crackdown on immigration in the US.

In a matter of weeks, he signed a slew of executive orders to 'reclaim control' of the States, hiked up tariffs to neighbors, Canada, Mexico and China to encourage their cooperation in halting illegal immigration.

He even threatened Colombia with similar sanctions for refusing to accept deportation flights, which have seemingly worked as the Colombian government allowed two planes carrying deported migrants into the country, the BBC reports.

But that's not all.

He's also looked at revoking student visas for foreign youngsters and deporting them if they are found protesting against Israel, expanding Guantanamo Bay and opening a new detention center for deportees in Colorado, and proposed another idea to exile repeat criminal offenders of any nationality, including the US, to far away lands in a 'modern' take on a penal colony.

Meanwhile, another executive order has sent the US military down to the Mexican border, with 'border czar' Tom Homan revealing that the number of deportations will be 'steadily increasing'.

Now, Trump is reportedly planning to enact a wartime law to deport migrants who have been accused of being gang members without any court hearings taking place.

What is the 1798 Enemies Act?

The 1798 Enemies Act was commissioned in response to spying and sabotage during tensions with France at the time, The Independent says.

According to the act, it can revoked in an act of 'declared war' or 'any invasion or predatory incursion' against the US government from a foreign government.

Until the President terminates it, the Enemies Act can remain in action for however long as necessary.

When was the act last used?

The act has been instigated three times in the US. The law was last used to justify internment camps for citizens of Japanese, German and Italian nationality, who were the Axis powers at the time, during the Second World War by President Franklin Roosevelt, who deemed them 'alien enemies'.

In 1812, it was used against the British, who were required to report information such as place of residence, length of time in the US, and whether they'd applied for naturalisation, as per NPR.

While in World War I, the law was used by President Woodrow Wilson against nationals from the German Empire, Austria, Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, with the National Archives (via NPR) saying 6,000 'enemy aliens' - largely Germans - remained in internment camps for two years following the war's conclusion in 1918.

How could Trump use the act against migrants?

It would allow Trump to quickly deport migrants accused of 'invasion or predatory incursion and those deemed to be gang members, reports Reuters,

The White House confirmed last month in an executive order that it was designating criminal cartels, like the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as terrorist organizations where the law would kick-in to allow legal deportations.

However, Trump's administration will have to grapple with the fact that immigration courts are overwhelmed with a backlog of applications, with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (UCIS) revealing in 2023 that it had reduced it's backlog by 10 million for the first time, with some asylum claims sometimes taking years to process.

Trump's vision of expedited removal for all illegal immigrants could be thwarted by this as the process can only apply to those who have been in the US for two years or less - and migrants can still lodge a claim for asylum, Reuters reports.

The Alien Enemies Act could also face legal challenges, as the court have been previously divided on decide what constitutes an 'invasion', according to The Independent.

Following a lawsuit against the federal government in the 1990s for allegedly failing to protect the state against an influx of illegal immigrants, courts determined there was no official standard for determining when a certain number of individuals became an 'invasion'.

Lee Gelernt, a leading attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told Reuters: "Desperate families coming to our border to seek refuge do not constitute an invasion by a foreign government within the meaning of the law."