President Trump wants to use the “tremendous powers” of the Insurrection Act to deport illegal immigrants.

Multiple senior administration officials said Trump sees the little-known law as a powerful tool to help his crackdown on illegal immigration, the Daily Caller reported Thursday .

“We’re doing the Insurrection Act,” said one official.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president authority to use the military to fight “unlawful obstruction or rebellion” within the U.S.

An official said the president will potentially declare the U.S. as full and say the country cannot accept any more illegal immigrants.

“If you take a ship and it holds 1,000 people maximum — one more person and the ship is going to collapse,” the official said. “The country is full.”

“Our hospitals are full, our detention centers are full,” the official added.

[ Read more: Trump tells illegal immigrants: 'Do not make yourselves too comfortable']

One official pointed to the president’s travel ban, expressing concern that the use of the law might provoke legal action. They also followed up by mentioning that the travel ban was eventually declared constitutional by the Supreme Court.

George H.W. Bush was the last president to use the law, during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Dwight D. Eisenhower used it during his presidency to desegregate schools in the South.

Illegal immigration levels have hit their highest since 2007, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants apprehended at the border in April.

In February, Trump declared a national emergency in order to move funding to build a wall along the southern border.