Fact check: Can Trump use a 1798 law to carry out mass deportations?

The law has been used three times in history – but only when the United States has been at war with a foreign nation.

A cornerstone of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign has been his promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in United States history. The details of how he would carry out the plan have been unclear. But at recent rallies, Trump has said he will use an 18th-century law to enforce mass deportations.

The deportation operation will begin in Aurora, Colorado, and will be called “Operation Aurora”, Trump said at an October 11 rally in Reno, Nevada, adding that immigrants are “trying to conquer us”.

Earlier that day at a campaign rally in Aurora, he said he’d invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite gang members’ removal and to “target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil”.

Trump was referring to a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, which he said has taken over “multiple apartment complexes” in Aurora. Claims that a Venezuelan gang had taken over Aurora started in August, when a video of a group of Spanish-speaking armed men walking in a city apartment complex went viral. However, local officials have pushed back, saying that concerns about Venezuelan gangs in Aurora are “grossly exaggerated”.

Aurora police say they’ve arrested Tren de Aragua gang members, but they have not said they had taken over apartment complexes.