Donald Trump Compared to Hitler After Vowing to Invoke 1700s Law Used to Justify Japanese Internment Camps

Mar. 15, 2025

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on June 9, 2024.Photo:ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Donald Trumpis vowing to invoke a 226-year-old law to justify mass detainments and deportations in the United States, saying thatElection Daywill be known as “Liberation Day” if he is handed the keys to the White House.

In a recent social media post after speaking in Aurora, Colo., about immigrants, Trump wrote, “We are now known, all throughout the world, as OCCUPIED AMERICA…But to everyone here in Colorado and all across our nation, I make you this vow: November 5th, 2024 will be LIBERATION DAY in America.”

He then vaguely accused his 2024 election opponent, Vice PresidentKamala Harris, of inflicting “violence and terror,” falsely trying to paint her as the one responsible for U.S. border policy and a years-long rise in illegal border crossings.

In recent months,aggressive executive actionfrom PresidentJoe Biden— which was taken after Trumpurged Republicansto tank Congress' bipartisan border bill in February — has triggered arecord declinein migrant encounters at the southern border, reachinglower levels than when Trump left officeand sitting at roughly 41% of what it was at the peak of Trump’s presidency.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is best remembered as the law that allowed PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltto place Japanese, Italian and German immigrants into internment camps during World War II, whether or not they were affiliated with military actions from their countries of origin.

“The Alien Enemies Act and complementing authorities have allowed presidents to target people on the basis of their identity, not their conduct or the threat they pose to national security,” writes Katherine Yon Ebright, a national security expert for the nonpartisanBrennan Center for Justice.

“In 1988, when Congress apologized and provided reparations for Japanese internment, it acknowledged that the policy was rooted in ‘racial prejudice’ and ‘wartime hysteria,’ not valid security concerns,” she continues in her recent article, which centers around the dangers of the overly broad 18th-century law. “Congress would later describe Italian internment as a ‘fundamental injustice,’ and the Department of Justice would recognize that German noncitizens had been targeted ‘based on their ancestry.’ "

Though the Alien Enemies Act is intended to be used only in wartime, and apply only when official governments have threatened military action, Trump could conceivably weaponize the law to apply to people hailing from any country he deems to be “invading” the U.S. — which is how he has described several nations whose residents have sought refuge in the States.

People familiar with his team’s policy deliberations previously toldRolling Stonethat he has already come up with a “very convoluted and crazy” theory for how he can abuse the law to justify mass deportations, even if the U.S. is not at war with a foreign government.

The Alien Enemies Act

Trump has long been known for spouting anti-immigration rhetoric, but his recent threats of mass deportations — and his increasingly inflammatory tone as Election Day nears — have sparked concern about the safety of immigrants and people of color who are perceived to be in the country illegally.

At the Aurora campaign rally on Oct. 11, local journalistKyle Clarkreported that, while discussing migrant crime, Trump said, “We have to live with these animals. But we won’t live with them for long.” Immediately after, a supporter in the crowd shouted, “Kill them!”

Also at the event, Trump immigration adviserStephen Miller— a white nationalist whose organization America First Legal was initially listed on the advisory board of Project 2025 — said that under Trump, the United States would return to being a country of “only Americans.” (The United States is, of course, a nation largely composed of immigrants and their descendants.)

Donald Trump in the spin room after his debate with Kamala Harris on Sept. 10, 2024.Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty

Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty

A barrage of posts have also popped up on social media platforms comparing Trump to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who gained a cult following when he entered politics that allowed him to seize control of Germany and carry out the Holocaust.

“think we’re genuinely on the edge of electing hitler here and people are complaining about not being pandered too [sic] enough,” wrote one user inan X postthat had 22,000 likes on Sunday morning, seemingly referring to how some progressives have criticized Harris' candidacy over slight policy disagreements.

Trump’s own running mate, Ohio Sen.J.D. Vance, referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler” before he ran for office and sought Trump’s endorsement.

The outlet, which saw an advanced copy of Woodward’s book, reports that Milley called Trump a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”

source: people.com