"According to the Trump administration, the term "British Invasion" is all a president needed to hear to justify throwing Paul McCartney into a foreign gulag. A couple years ago, that sentence would - rightly - be dismissed as unfair hyperbole. In 2026, it's a routine Thursday for the Department of Justice. To set the stage, the Trump administration persists in its assertion of broad power under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798."
"The 18th century law grants the executive branch authority to expel foreign nationals during an invasion. That's not in dispute. The Trump DOJ's new, deliciously ahistorical twist contends that presidents have exclusive, unquestioned power to define whatever they want as an "invasion." If a dementia-addled president decides that foreign-born members of a street gang are an "invasion," he can round up and expel anyone they claim has ties to that group. And no judicial process can question them."
The Trump administration asserts broad executive authority under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel foreign nationals during an "invasion." The law permits the executive branch to remove foreign citizens when an invasion occurs. The DOJ contends that presidents have exclusive power to declare what constitutes an "invasion," allowing a president to label any foreign-connected group as such. Under that view, the president could round up and expel individuals based on claimed ties without meaningful judicial review. The government persists with this position despite a rebuke from the Supreme Court. A Fifth Circuit en banc hearing probed the extreme implications of the claim.
Read at Above the Law
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