In mid-October, the Brennan Center at New York University School of Law issued The Alien Enemies Act: Unjust, Unnecessary, and Unconsititutional, a report decrying the continued existence of the Alien Enemies Act and calling for its repeal. Katherine Ebright, who works on constitutional war powers at the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote the report and is kicking off an advocacy campaign to secure a clean repeal of that outdated and dangerous law. Here is an explanation of the act, Those of you who were former internees, or families with interned relatives, should find this report heartening, since it calls for an apology to internees of German descent. Below is an excerpt.
“…Already, Congress has issued formal apologies to World War II–era internees of Japanese and Italian descent. Bipartisan legislation, most notably the Wartime Treatment Study Act, has proposed extending these apologies to internees of German descent. Congress should act on this legislation without delay.
But apologies are not enough. To prevent ancestry-based internment and expulsion in the future, Congress must repeal the Alien Enemies Act. To that end, Representative Ilhan Omar and Senator Mazie Hirono have introduced the Neighbors Not Enemies Act in the House and Senate. Congress should pass this bill with urgency, before the Alien Enemies Act can be abused by politicians and groups to target immigrant communities in peacetime. …”
We agree.