What act allowed the president to jail any foreigner?

Answer 1

The Alien and Sedition Acts were 4 bills passed in 1798.

• Naturalization Act: made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen
• Alien Friends Act: allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were deemed dangerous
• Alien Enemies Act: allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were from a hostile nation
• Sedition Act: criminalized making false statements that were critical of the federal government

All but the Alien Enemies act were repealed after the Democratic-Republicans (Thomas Jefferson's political party) took control of the Congress.

The Alien Enemies Act remained in effect, was revised and codified in 1918 for use in the first World War, and was used by F.D.R. to order the imprisonment of Japanese, German, and Italian residents of the US during WW II. After the war, the act was used by President Harry S. Truman to continue to imprison, then deport, aliens of the formerly hostile nations. In 1948 the Supreme Court determined that presidential powers under the acts continued after cessation of hostilities until there was a peace treaty with the hostile nation. The revised Alien Enemies Act remains in effect today.

Answer 2

There is no law that the president has to do this. First, this is beyond his constitutal powers and laws are made by congress. People entering the United States as immigrants are put through a series of stages. If found to be dangerous they can be deported.