Minnesota professor says Trump's plan to invoke Alien Enemies Act of 1798 "sidesteps" immigration laws
President Trump is planning to invoke a law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as soon as Friday to authorize the summary deportation of some migrants, multiple U.S. officials familiar with the plan told CBS News, and a Minnesota college professor says it could have sweeping impacts.
The act is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain and deport non-U.S. citizens from enemy countries.
Since the U.S. is not at war, it would have to be determined that a country is either carrying out or threatening an invasion.
Trump's administration has designated the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, a foreign terrorist organization.
He's expected to try to use the 18th-century law to deport suspected gang members, as he said he would during his inaugural address.
"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," Mr. Trump said in January.
Because the Alien Enemies Act is an emergency wartime authority, there wouldn't be court hearings for any resulting detainments or deportations.
Trump's use of the act will almost certainly face legal challenges.
University of St. Thomas Law Professor Virgil Wiebe says it's "a stretch" to claim that Venezuela has invaded the U.S.
But Wiebe worries that a successful use of the law could allow for deportations of all non-citizens from the designated enemy country, including people with green cards or student visas.
"The really scary thing about the invocation of this is that we're talking about an effort to sidestep immigration laws passed by Congress," Wiebe said.
Even if the courts block it, immigrant advocates say it sends a message.
"There's a lot of symbolic steps the administration is taking ... because it benefits a campaign of fear that drives immigrants into the shadows," said Ryan Perez, the director of organizing for COPAL Minnesota.
The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times, most recently during World War II when it was used to put Japanese Americans in internment camps. President Ronald Reagan formally apologized for the injustice in 1988.
