The article discusses Donald Trump's recent usage of the Alien Enemies Act to target Venezuelan gang members, drawing parallels to its 1798 origins during anti-Irish Catholic sentiments. The author reflects on the historical context of the law, originally implemented by Federalists to prevent foreigners viewed as potential threats to national stability. Historically, this act also mirrors the Great Replacement Theory, with the Anti-Democratic-Republican rhetoric revealing deeper ethnic prejudices against Irish immigrants. The author urges Irish Catholics today to remember their roots and the struggles faced in the past, amidst contemporary immigration debates.
"When Donald Trump invoked the 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members this weekend, I had only one association with the law: when the Federalists originally passed it to fight an influx of foreigners into the new nation who might align with their enemies."
"The Federalists passed the act in 1798 not merely out of ethnic prejudice against Irish Catholics, although that was certainly a factor. They wanted to keep out French revolutionists, as well as the Irish they'd supported in the failed Irish uprising of 1798."
"The Alien Enemies Act also represented an 18th-century version of the Great Replacement Theory. The more populist Democratic-Republicans denounced the act as inciting a 'reign of terror.'"
"But the rhetoric against the Irish was particularly horrific. Federalist Representative Harrison Grey Otis proclaimed in Congress: '[I do] not wish to invite hoards of wild Irishmen, nor the turbulent and disorderly of all parts of the world, to come here with a view to disturb our tranquility.'"
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