United States President Donald Trump is set to test the limits of his immigration crackdown by invoking a wartime law to deport immigrants alleged to be gang members without court hearings, a broad authority that could supercharge his mass deportation push and potentially sweep in people not charged with crimes.
After taking office, Trump ordered military and immigration officials to be ready by Monday – today, Feb. 3 – to implement the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two. The move which would almost certainly face legal challenges could allow him to bypass due process rights and rapidly remove migrants.
Trump, a Republican, stormed back into the White House promising to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, an action he said was necessary after high levels of illegal immigration under Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump issued a flurry of executive actions to redirect military resources to support the mass deportation effort and empowered U.S. immigration officers to make more arrests, including at schools, churches and hospitals – even though those specific measures, opens new tab are unpopular and highly contested by civil and immigrant rights groups.
But even with Trump’s sweeping early actions, his administration will have to contend with overwhelmed immigration courts where asylum cases can take years to resolve.
Trump expanded a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal, but it only applies to those in the U.S. for two years or less and still gives migrants the ability to claim asylum.
The Alien Enemies Act could allow Trump to rapidly deport migrants deemed part of an “invasion or predatory incursion,” Â a novel use of a law previously only invoked in wartime. Republicans frequently refer to illegal immigration as an invasion and portray migrants as dangerous criminals and “military-aged.”
The Trump administration is pushing to ramp up detention space, a move that could work in conjunction with the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump last week ordered the expansion of a migrant detention site in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 people. Military officials said they would set up a detention site on a space base in Aurora, Colorado, a city Trump has portrayed as controlled by migrant gangs despite pushback from local leaders.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepped up arrests last week, picking up about 1,000 people per day – three times the daily average last year. The agency has funding to hold an average of 41,500 migrants this year and currently has about 40,000 in custody, according to its figures. U.S. immigration courts, however, had a backlog of 3.6 million cases at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service, a jam that could hamper deportations.
