Portland councilor: ‘Families scared’ over Trump’s use of 1798 law

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — There are more than 400,000 immigrants and refugees in Oregon, according to Oregon For All. But many organizations and local leaders said they fear families will be torn apart following President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.

Despite a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge, hundreds were deported to El Salvador on Saturday.

Portland City Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane said her constituents have been in touch because they’re scared.

“I have been speaking with my constituents, some of whom are asylum seekers, who are telling me that they’re afraid to send their children to school. I am hearing from teachers who are telling me that they have students that aren’t coming to school because their families are scared,” she said Monday.

The ACLU argues invoking the act could do more than deportation. During World War II the government used this act to incarcerate around 120,000 people with Japanese heritage in America without a trial. Thousands were sent to internment camps — including in Oregon — according to the National Archives.

The use of this 18th-century law — which had only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II — hits home for Koyama Lane.

“My Japanese American grandparents, Grandma Aiko and Grandpa Ray, were just high schoolers when Executive Order 9066 forcibly removed and incarcerated them,” she said. “They had their farmland, their livelihoods and their dignity stolen from them.”

The ACLU and Democracy Forward is suing to block this act prompting a temporary restraining order. The ACLU of Oregon said they are requesting information to find if any of them are from this state.

“The danger of this act is we have not been able to confirm any of this information. We simply do not know. We do know that right now,” Executive Director of the ACLU of Oregon Sandy Chung said. “The ACLU and our partners are in process to get more information about the planes that were flown out,”

But Republican State Representative Alek Skarlatos said he wants the president to have the power to deport whoever is in the country illegally.

“I think it’s a good thing, but I would say that it’s a shame that Trump had to enact some esoteric law from the 1790s in order to deport people that we should be able to deport regardless,” said Skarlatos. “The fact that this is being fought is a little ridiculous.”

He added, “Anyone in our country illegally, or even on a green card or temporary status is still a guest of this country, and we don’t have to grant them admission.”

To be clear, the official website for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services states, “Having a Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card) allows you to live and work permanently in the United States.”