Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | March 14, 2025 — The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is alarmed by reports of the Trump Administration’s intention to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out mass deportations. MPAC cautions that the invocation of this dangerous policy is a red line for communities. We condemn this egregious misuse of power which is a chilling echo of some of the darkest chapters in American history, most notably the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The administration’s reported plan to invoke the Alien Enemies Act for mass deportations is just the latest example of the deeply disturbing practice of scapegoating entire communities, using exaggerated national security threats as justification for extreme actions. Just as Japanese Americans were falsely accused of aiding the enemy, the administration’s rhetoric frames immigrants as inherent security risks, without due process or individual evidence.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government used the Alien Enemies Act and Executive Order 9066 to justify the forced relocation, incarceration and internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans—the vast majority of whom were U.S. citizens or legal residents— without trial, without evidence of wrongdoing, and without any means of legal recourse.
The decision fueled racial discrimination and led to one of the most infamous Supreme Court rulings in American history—Korematsu v. United States (1944)—which upheld the government’s right to detain Japanese Americans based on racial and national origin.
The principles that defined this era have since been used to influence policies related to the detention of foreign nationals suspected of terrorism and the Trump Administration’s Executive Order 13769, the Muslim Ban. Following the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision to uphold the Muslim Ban, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor of our nation’s highest court rebuked such policies as invoked with the justification of “an ill-defined national security threat to justify an exclusionary policy of sweeping proportion.”
History has repeatedly shown that policies driven by fear and xenophobia do not make America safer—they only erode our democratic principles. The use of the Alien Enemies Act to justify deportations today would set a dangerous precedent, one that threatens to revive the same injustices that our nation has since condemned.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council is actively working to support the Neighbors Not Enemies Act (S.193/H.R. 630) introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Representative Ilhan Omar (MN-5) which would repeal the Alien Enemies Act and will stand against any effort to revive similar unjust policies.
We must take a stand to prevent the weaponization of outdated wartime laws against vulnerable communities. MPAC will be working with coalition groups including those that represent the Asian American community to ensure that our nation does not return to the chapter that left a dark stain on American history.. The lessons of the past demand that we stand against authoritarian overreach and protect the civil liberties of all people, regardless of their nationality or immigration status.