Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, Thursday joined Democratic lawmakers to reintroduce the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, intended to repeal a nearly 230-year-old law targeting immigrants.
The legislation would repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. President Donald Trump is expected to use the law to speed up his promised mass deportations of illegal immigrants in coming days.
The law was passed as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts by the Federalist Party — supporters of John Adams' administration — to target the supporters of the Democratic-Republican party, favored by recently arrived immigrants.
Supporters of the Neighbors Not Enemies Act say they fear the Alien Enemies Act will be used in a similar way by the Trump administration.
"The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a draconian, wartime law that gives presidents unprecedented powers to deport immigrants without a court hearing or an asylum interview," Vargas said. "Now, Trump is threatening to exploit this outdated law to carry out his mass detention and deportation plans.
"We've already seen innocent families and hard-working people with no criminal record swept up in his anti-immigrant agenda. We need to pass this bill to protect the rights and due process of immigrants here in San Diego County and across the country."
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, are co- authors of the bill. Both Omar and Hirono are immigrants themselves.
The three other acts passed by the Adams administration-era legislature as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Alien Friends Act, Naturalization Act and the Sedition Act, have since been repealed by Congress.
However, the Alien Enemies Act has remained on the books for well over 200 years. It allows the president to unilaterally determine how and if all foreign nationals from a specific country should be "apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed" during times of war or "imminent threat." The act was famously used during World War II to send Japanese Americans to internment camps.
According to CNN, the primary target of the Trump effort is Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan organized crime group that is operating in the United States and other countries.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, is a co-sponsor of the bill.
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