J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation and former employee of the U.S. Department of Justice under the George W. Bush administration, is warning of the possible legal challenges that are likely to arise against former President Donald Trump’s plan to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove illegal aliens from the U.S. if he’s elected in November.
While speaking at a campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado on Friday, Trump announced, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.”
The Alien Enemies Act may be invoked by the president in times of “declared war” or when a foreign government threatens or undertakes an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” against U.S. territory.
Adams warned, however, that Trump’s attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act would likely bring about a great deal of legal challenges and would be blocked from being enforced by the courts.
“There’s a problem with using this statute, and that is…there has to be a state of war, declared war…Here’s the big problem, there really isn’t a declared war with Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, or any of the other countries,” Adams explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“So that’s the problem with using the statute, is there’s no state of war, not even one that’s pseudo declared. Somebody has to declare something, Congress, because that’s who has the power under the Constitution, and then you can use the statute,” Adams added.
Adams also said Trump would likely run into legal challenges if he were to invoke the law under the “invasion” or “predatory incursion” by a foreign government statute, explaining, “The question becomes whether this is a government doing this or whether this is an organic untethered, uncoupled action by a government.”
Noting how the influx of illegal aliens into the U.S. may be seen as an “invasion,” Adams further explained how it doesn’t appear to be “predatory” initiated by a foreign government.
“Predatory. Let’s focus on that element. Predatory infers that the invasion is taking place and something is going back, like a mountain lion eating the meat of a deer. That’s predatory. In this particular instance, there’s no meat going back to the lion, is there? What’s going back? Maybe Western Union money transfers six months later? That is one thing, but it’s not going back to the foreign government. So the word predatory also imposes an obstacle. In this analysis, it might be an invasion, but it doesn’t appear to be predatory,” Adams said.
In the case Trump were elected and pursued the Alien Enemies Act, Adams said legal challenges would likely be filed in different courts all across the nation and it would only take one judge to grant a temporary restraining order and halt the president’s action until that case plays out in court.
“All you need to do is one to hit and you get a nation conceivable nationwide injunction,” Adams warned.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “J. Christian Adams” by PILF.org.
