"Not American enough" Trump wants to deport masses of "illegals" with the 1798 Act

Donald Trump wants to carry out "mass deportations from day one" with a law from 1798. Germans, Italians and Japanese were also interned during the world wars under the Alien Enemies Act.

The issue of immigration is the focus of Donald Trump's election campaign: the 78-year-old repeatedly warns of the large number of illegal immigrants, all of whom are criminals - and Trump continues to falsely claim that they are eating the animals of the long-established population.

But how does the New Yorker actually intend to deal with the "mass deportations" that he has repeatedly announced? Trump speaks quite publicly about his tool of choice: the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

"Who the hell told Donald Trump about the Alien Enemies Act of 1798?" asks John Stewart on the "Daily Show". "Because I bet he didn't come to the meeting and say, 'Hey, why don't we use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act? Would that be applicable?"

A law written by the fear of France

What is this ancient law all about?

It dates back to a time when the USA was in a so-called quasi-war with France, and Washington feared that the immigrants might side with the European enemy. For this reason, four laws were passed as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, three of which soon expired.

The Naturalization Act briefly extended the mandatory minimum period of residence for naturalization from 5 to 14 years. The Alien Friends Act allowed the president to deport any dangerous alien. And the Sedition Act made it a criminal offense to write badly about the government.

Only the Alien Enemies Act is still theoretically valid. In practice, the law has never played a role - except in times of war. Thanks to this rule, the president can imprison, relocate or deport people who have no civil rights.

Internment camps for US citizens too

In the USA, the Alien Enemies Act was used in the 20th century to intern Germans and Japanese, as well as Americans with roots in these countries. After Washington's entry into World War I in April 1917, the U.S. Marshals Service had registered 480,000 "illegal aliens" of German descent and arrested 6300 of them, according to NPR.

During the Second World War, the law was brought out after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was felt by Germans, Japanese and Italians. Even Jews who had to flee Germany were among the more than 31,000 people who were sent to camps with their families. US citizens with Japanese roots also encountered problems.

However, the USA is not currently at war - even if Donald Trump repeatedly speaks of an "invasion" with regard to illegal immigrants. A legal tug-of-war would probably be the result if the Republican tried to sell immigration as a declaration of war.

"Not American enough"

But in fact, Trump doesn't need the Aliens Enemies Act at all: the president already has the right to search for, detain and deport illegal immigrants, NPR notes. And just how many people are we talking about who are in the country illegally, late-night legend Jon Stewart wants to know?

The "Daily Show" shows various clips of Trump: First he talks about "millions of illegals". Then he says: "You think it's two million - it's probably five times more." This is followed by: "You hear 15, 16, sometimes you hear 17." And: "We have 21 million, at least 21 million. I think it's a lot more than 21 million."

Jon Stewart looks into the camera in consternation. "So we're going to round up and deport between 2 and 21 million people." The criteria according to which this is done is a matter for negotiation: at one time, there were also efforts in the USA to deport Irish or Italians, explains the 61-year-old.

"The point is that each of these groups was on the wrong side at a certain point in time because they were not American enough," says Stewart.