The Alien Enemies Act of 1798

The act allows the government to detain or remove foreign nationals without a hearing in times of war or invasion...

The Alien Enemies Act is part of the larger Alien and Sedition Acts, which Congress enacted during John Adams’s presidency when the United States was on the brink of war with France. It is a sweeping law that, when invoked, grants the president extraordinary power...

Two conditions must be met to invoke the Act...

First, there must be a war, invasion, or predatory incursion of U.S. territory. Second, the invasion or hostile act must be committed by a foreign government...

Treviño believes terrorist groups acting as foreign powers or operating in association with foreign governments could meet the requirements needed to invoke the law.

“When you look at cartel activity, then we are being invaded,” he said. If an organization can kill Americans on U.S. soil and operate with foreign state support, it’s easy to make the argument that they are invading the country, he said...

“They actually do have state support. In many cases, they are state agents,” Treviño said. “The intersection of the cartels with the Mexican government is very robust.”...

The Alien Enemies Act states that when the president makes a public proclamation to invoke the act, “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.”...