White Supremacy in Action: Trump Invokes Wartime Law to Terrorize Immigrant Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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WASHINGTON — Jesselyn McCurdy, executive vice president for government affairs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798:

“Trump’s shameful invocation of a wartime authority to speed up, expand, and intensify his cruel mass deportation and detention efforts is dangerous, discriminatory, and unacceptable. The Alien Enemies Act was used during World War II to help justify the forced relocation and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent. With this announcement, the Trump administration has made clear that it wishes to return the United States to a reprehensible chapter in our nation’s history — a presidential action, then and now, widely condemned as a grave violation of civil and human rights.

“While it is ostensibly limited to suspected gang members, it opens the door to widespread abuses. The ACLU and Democracy Forward have already sued the Trump administration for the ‘unlawful and unprecedented invocation of the Alien Enemies Act,’ and a federal judge has already issued a restraining order against the Trump administration to prevent immediate deportation of those detained pending additional court hearings — though reports raise questions about whether the administration has followed this order. 

“If allowed to stand, this action will swing the doors wide open to abusive and discriminatory enforcement — ruining lives, tearing apart families and communities, and deeply damaging our democracy in the process. It is white supremacy in action, and it tramples on the Constitution’s guarantee of due process. It must be stopped.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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