Alien and Sedition Acts Timeline

Unlike the Sedition Act, the Alien Enemies Act had no sunset clause and continued in force, later being codified as sections 4067 to 4070 of the Revised Statutes, 50 U.S.C. 21–24.

President James Madison invoked the act against British nationals during the War of 1812 and ordered them to report to local authorities for additional duties.

President Woodrow Wilson invoked the act against nationals of the Central Powers during World War I.

An amendment to the Alien Enemies Act struck the provision restricting its application to males.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527 concerning Japanese, German, and Italian enemy aliens and authorizing their apprehension, restraint, security, and removal.

German alien Kurt G. W. Lüdecke was detained under Proclamation 2526 and remained held after the cessation of hostilities.

Image source: Ludecke v. Watkins

Most of the approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent incarcerated in U.S. internment camps were American citizens detained solely because of Japanese ancestry under Executive Order 9066, rather than under the Alien Enemies Act.

Image source: Internment of Japanese Americans

After hostilities with Germany and Italy ended in May 1945, President Harry S. Truman issued Presidential Proclamation 2655.

Truman issued Proclamation 2662, authorizing the secretary of state to remove enemy aliens sent to the United States from Latin American countries.

Truman's Proclamation 2685 modified earlier proclamations and established a 30-day deadline for removal.

After the attorney general ordered his deportation, Lüdecke petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus seeking his release.

In Ludecke v. Watkins, the Supreme Court interpreted when release could occur under the Alien Enemies Act.

President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, acknowledging that Japanese American internment resulted from race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership, and authorizing compensation for survivors.

Image source: Civil Liberties Act of 1988

Amid increased numbers of Venezuelan asylum seekers, then-presidential nominee Donald Trump announced that, if elected to a second term, he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to expedite removal of foreigners and criminal networks operating in the United States.

At a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Trump again said he would use the Alien Enemies Act to remove undocumented migrants operating within gangs and criminal networks on the first day of his presidency.

The March 2025 invocation of the Alien Enemies Act remains subject to ongoing litigation.

Trump repeated his intention to invoke the Alien Enemies Act in his second inaugural address.

Image source: Second inauguration of Donald Trump

Trump signed Presidential Proclamation 10903, invoking the Alien Enemies Act against what he described as an invasion perpetrated or attempted by the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued guidance directing immigration enforcement to obtain a document from an executive-branch immigration officer rather than a judicial warrant, and authorizing entry into a residence when circumstances made obtaining a document impracticable.

The day after the proclamation was signed, the administration conducted deportations of Venezuelans to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador.

Image source: March 2025 United States deportations of Venezuelans

The Supreme Court vacated Judge Boasberg's temporary restraining order, held that the plaintiffs had to bring the lawsuit in Texas rather than Washington, D.C., and required sufficient notice and an opportunity to challenge deportation.

In an emergency late-night order in A.A.R.P. v. Trump, the Supreme Court halted the deportation process in the Northern District of Texas, signaling concern that the administration might not have complied with the April 7 ruling.

Image source: A.R.P. v. Trump