The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were a set of four United States statutes that sought, on national security grounds, to restrict immigration and limit 1st Amendment protections for freedom of speech. They were endorsed by the Federalist Party of President John Adams as a response to a developing dispute with the French Republic and to related fears of domestic political subversion. The prosecution of journalists under the Sedition Act rallied public support for the opposition Democratic-Republicans, and contributed to their success in the elections of 1800. Under the new administration of Thomas Jefferson, only the Alien Enemies Act, granting the president powers of detention and deportation of foreigners in wartime or in face of a threatened invasion, remained in force.
After 1800, the surviving Alien Enemies Act was invoked three times during the course of a declared war: the War of 1812, and the First and Second World Wars. Of these three invocations, the Alien Enemies Act is best known as the legal authority behind the internment of German Americans during both World Wars, as well as internment of Italian Americans and, to a lesser extent, Japanese Americans during World War II. In March 2025, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act as his authority for expediting deportation of foreigners; this invocation is subject to ongoing litigation.
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