Former President Donald Trump channeled his inner Doc Brown on Monday by announcing that he will use a 1798 law to quickly break up criminal gangs.
As he did in his 2016 campaign, Trump has made the border and immigration the centerpiece of his 2024 run. Speaking at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, the former president gave the crowd a glimpse of what he intends to do if he returns to the White House:
I will rescue every town across America that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell out of our country and back to where they came from. And expedite the removals of Tren de Aragua and other savage gangs like MS-13, equally violent. I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 18– no, of 1798. Think of that, 1798. That’s when we had real politicians that said, ‘We are not gonna play games.’ We have to go back to 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.
The law Trump cited gives the president the power to detain or deport non-citizens who are deemed to be enemies of the U.S. It was passed at the tail end of the 18th century amid fears that some in the country wanted the U.S. to ally with France in its war with the U.K. The Alien Enemies Act, which is applicable during wartime, chilled civil liberties and sought to crack down on non-citizens for criticizing the government. Presidents have invoked the act several times, including during the War of 1812 and both world wars. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt used the act to intern Japanese, Italian, and German people living in the U.S.
“We’re gonna knock the hell out of them,” Trump said of the criminal gangs.
Watch above via C-SPAN.
