(Hill) Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday reintroduced legislation seeking to repeal an 18th-century law that was used as justification for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and, more recently, for the Trump administration’s ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries.
The bill, called the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, was unveiled in a press release Tuesday from Omar’s office, with the congresswoman joined by 40 co-sponsors in backing the repeal of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The act, part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, remains in effect to this day, though the three other bills targeting immigrants and foreign nationals during times of war have since expired or been repealed.
The Alien Enemies Act specifically allows a U.S. president to decide how individuals from an enemy country should be “apprehended, restrained, secured and removed” during wartime.
