Calls rejection of Trump’s use of 1798 law ‘far from perfect’; prefers repeal.
By P.C. Staff
The Japanese American Citizens League issued a statement Sept. 5 welcoming news that an appeals court ruled the president misused the Alien Enemies Act in March when he invoked it against a crime gang.
The JACL’s endorsement of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals’ three-judge ruling on Sept. 2 was, however, reserved, calling it a “step in the right direction, but far from perfect.”
The 2-1 ruling can either be appealed to the full 5th Circuit or to the Supreme Court.
This case reached the 5th Circuit after President Trump on March 15 invoked the AEA, citing an “invasion of the United States” by Venezuelan criminal gang Tren De Aragua. That led to the deportation and incarceration of Venezuelan nationals without due process and likely would have led to more deportations until the Supreme Court on May 16 temporarily blocked Trump from continuing to use the 1798 law.
In its statement, JACL continued: “While the court found that the use of the AEA in this case was unlawful, the current standard for detainees to file legal challenges was not struck down. Currently, the standard is that detainees must be given a 7-day time period in which to bring any legal challenges to their detention and possible deportation. Given the limited deadline and the conditions in which they are confined, detainees still do not have time to access the legal resources necessary to challenge their detention.”
On June 3, JACL and 63 other Japanese American and Asian American organizations filed an amicus brief to the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals challenging President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which may only be invoked in a time of declared war, or an invasion or predatory incursion. (June 6, 2025 Pacific Citizen)
Related to that, on July 20 at its National Board meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., JACL adopted a resolution to create the Social Justice Action Committee in order to streamline JACL’s response time with regard to such tasks as filing amicus briefs, joining advocacy letters and acting on behalf of the National JACL. (Aug. 8, 2025 Pacific Citizen)
In the recent past on at least two occasions, JACL has endorsed the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, which seeks to repeal the AEA. (Jan. 27, 2025 Pacific Citizen and Oct. 7, 2020 Pacific Citizen )
The AEA has only been invoked on three occasions: the War of 1812, and World Wars I and II. The last time it was invoked, the federal government used it to round up and incarcerate first-generation Japanese immigrants who were seen as community leaders but were at the time barred from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens because of their race and national origin. Similarly President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 led to the forced removal and incarceration of more than 125,000 ethnic Japanese, U.S. citizen or not, from the western-most states.
Read the JACL’s statement here.
Other articles related to the AEA may be read at tinyurl.com/6ufan9bm and tinyurl.com/4bvfczad.
