SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Tsuru for Solidarity here, in concert with San Francisco Japantown, labor groups, the SF Public Defender’s Office, and immigration organizations, this week denounced the Trump Administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, calling it a troubling repetition of history.
The Tsuru for Solidarity, at a news conference, highlighted the importance and effects of implementing the Alien Enemies Act, which permitted the FBI to carry out raids on the residences, jobs, and community spaces of Japanese Americans in San Francisco Japantown, leading to the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese immigrants.
According to Tsuru for Solidarity, the Alien Enemies Act paved the way for the wholesale incarceration of over 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry in World War II.
Community leaders criticize the revival of this outdated act, which has a dark history, now being used to target Venezuelans.
Leaders warn it could be used to abduct any immigrant or citizen deemed a threat, leading to incarceration in detention camps, thus undermining due process and violating human rights, as emphasized in Tsuru for Solidarity’s statement.
Multiple Japanese organizations and leaders are uniting to denounce this act, including Japanese Community Youth Council, Asian Pacific Islander Outreach, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Tsuru for Solidarity, KOHO Creative Collective, SF Public Defenders Immigration Unit, Bay Area Day of Remembrance and Chinese for Affirmative Action.
Jon Osaki, Japanese Community Youth Council, said, “Our Japanese American families had to live through the horrific trauma of unlawful separation, detention and the complete disregard for any form of due process the last time the Alien Enemies Act was abused by this country.”
“It is despicable to once again witness the rule of law and basic decency obliterated by the Trump Administration. The current dismantling of civil liberties in America is disgraceful,” cited the Tsuru for Solidarity.
Tsuru for Solidarity, in a statement, noted how the U.S. government draws on the tragic and distressing history of the incarceration of Japanese Americans and Latin Americans in what is described as discriminatory and xenophobic efforts against immigrants and people of color.
Francisco Ugarte, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Immigration Unit, stated, “The secret removals, or kidnapping, of hundreds of people to a black site in El Salvador, without due process of law, was blatantly illegal and unconstitutional. They now face the prospect of permanent indefinite detention in a prison with a history of torture and human rights abuses.”
Tsuru for Solidarity underlines the Alien Enemies Act, claiming it allows endless detention, removes due process, and erodes civil liberties, echoing a time when authority figures silenced individuals based on race or origin, and citing historical examples that illustrate the dangers of normalizing mass incarceration based on race, nationality, or perceived “threat.”
The invocation of the Alien Enemies Act represents a troubling invasion of basic freedoms by the MAGA regime, the groups noted, and expands the immigration detention system, both in the U.S. and throughout the Western Hemisphere, said Tsuru for Solidarity.
Jeff Matsuoka, Bay Area Day of Remembrance, charged, “The Trump Administration’s detention and deportation of immigrants without due process sadly brings to mind the unjust incarceration of our community during WWII. It is history repeating itself in the worst way.”
According to Tsuru for Solidarity, Trump is claiming the power to use the immigration detention system to arrest, imprison, and deport those labeled as a “threat,” and enable mass surveillance, raids, and long-term detention, echoing the incarceration of Japanese Americans and Latin Americans, and creating a dangerous precedent for broader criminalization that enhances state control over dissent.
Tsuru for Solidarity insists this action is an overreach by the federal government, risking further human rights violations, and could result in entire communities having their rights stripped under the pretense of “national security.”
