The Alien Enemies Act, Explained

Don Wolfensberger at The Hill:

Two things should be understood about the Alien Enemies Act. First, it can only be operable when there is a “declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government.” The act was not triggered when enacted because the U.S. maintained its neutrality throughout the war between Britain and France.

Second, the legislation authorized the president to “make public proclamation” of his intent to apprehend, restrain, secure and remove foreign male nationals aged 14 and over (since amended in 1918 to include women) as enemy aliens, whether or not they were present in the U.S. legally.

The act has been invoked only three times over the last two- and a quarter centuries: in the War of 1812 against Britain, in World War I and in World War II — the latter being the last war declared by Congress.

The Alien Enemies Act was used to during World War II to arrest and detain in internment camps or military facilities more than 30,000 suspected enemy aliens in the U.S. from Italy and Nazi Germany. The more outrageous occurrence was the internment of over 100,000 ethnic Japanese. But approximately two-thirds of these were U.S. citizens, who therefore had to be detained under different legal authorities than the Alien Enemies Act.

Even if Trump’s threat to utilize the 1798 law to round-up and either detain or deport immigrants, the task would be a hugely costly, litigious and prolonged. Moreover, he would be challenged in the courts that the U.S. is not now engaged in a declared war and the president has no authority under the Constitution to unilaterally declare war on other nations.

 
Several experts have pointed out that the president already has authority to expel undocumented aliens, war or no war, and need not invoke the Alien Enemies Act. So why would he want to jump through all the extra hoops? And even then, it still comes down to the bottom-line question: “Where’s the money?”