Washington, D.C. – Today, in the latest in the Trump Administration’s regime against our rights, Trump invoked a 1798 wartime law that would order federal agents to rapidly capture, detain and disappear millions of people from their homes and communities.
The Alien Enemies Act –which is really a Mass Kidnapping executive order— is a violent return to one of our nation’s darkest chapters, when government-sanctioned kidnappings resulted in the unlawful internment of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II. The current version of the EO gives unprecedented and unilateral power to the Trump Administration to target and kidnap immigrants from Venezuela they simply accuse of being in the Tren de Araguas gang while denying them due process and fast tracking their deportation. This will no doubt fuel mass racial profiling and violence against immigrants.
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Advocacy Director of United We Dream, said:
“As we speak, Trump is taking a sledgehammer to our rights in his attempt to separate millions of families and criminalize the existence of undocumented people in this country. The fact that an accusation alone from the Trump Administration is enough to tear someone from their home, throw them into detention, and disappear them altogether from their loved ones, should be enough to make every single Member of Congress take bold action to stop the rise of a Trump dictatorship.
In just the past week, we have witnessed the Trump Administration’s unprecedented assault on young Palestinian activists who have demanded an end to the U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil’s kidnapping alone is proof that this administration will make up lies about anyone they personally don’t like in order to harass and kidnap them, no matter if they are a U.S. citizen, resident, or undocumented immigrant. Today’s executive order makes government overreach the norm and will strip away any protections for people to be able to defend themselves against these state-sanctioned attacks. There is no time for silence or inaction when Trump is waging an all-out war against our rights. We call on the courts to put a stop to this immediate overreach. We also demand Congress act swiftly to repeal this outdated law and prevent its misuse by passing Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Ilhan Omar’s Neighbors Not Enemies Act, ensuring that our nation’s policies reflect our commitment to human rights and the rule of law.”
