In response to President Trump’s anticipated invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to help him carry out his xenophobic agenda and increase immigrant detention and deportations, Amy Fischer, Director of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, said the following:
“President Trump’s anticipated invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—which was used as the basis for Japanese internment in the 1940s—is deeply shameful. It is yet another step in his administration’s racist and cruel attack on immigrants, many of whom are already living in fear as unlawful arrests and detentions take place across the U.S.
“This discriminatory law targeting our immigrant neighbors gives the president incredibly broad power to detain and deport swaths of people based on their nationality and opens up the flood gates to increased risk for human rights violations, including the rights to non-discrimination, due process, and to seek asylum. It is archaic and should be banished from modern society.
“If, as reported, the administration plans to send the people it is blatantly targeting and tearing from their communities to Guantanamo, they will endure even more human rights violations. The detention center at Guantanamo Bay must be shut down, and not used for detention in any way, shape, or form.
“Immigrants make our communities stronger in countless ways. The anti-immigrant rhetoric and heartless policies and practices coming from the Trump administration will only make us stronger in our support for people seeking safety and other immigrants in the U.S.”
CONTACT: [email protected]