Minn. Rep. Ilhan Omar reintroduces Neighbors not Enemies Act as Trump ramps up deportation efforts

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Jan 22, 2025

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced her first bill in the new Congress Wednesday in hopes of countering President Donald Trump plans to deport undocumented immigrants.

It marked the fourth time the Minnesota Democrat has introduced the Neighbors not Enemies Act, which would repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a centuries-old wartime law that gives the president the ability to detain and deport foreign nationals deemed threats to the country.

Because Republicans control Washington, Omar’s bill is unlikely to advance in the 119th Congress. Instead, her decision to reintroduce the bill at a time when Trump and his party seek to crack down on immigration was largely a symbolic move. As deputy chair of the left flank Congressional Progressive Caucus, Omar is laying the framework for how the caucus plans to resist the new administration.

“Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are preparing to dust off the law for their plan for mass deportation. This will be another moral stain on our country,” Omar said of Trump’s deputy chief of staff.

Omar introduced the bill alongside Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who is sponsoring it in the Senate.

Their reintroduction of the bill came just two days after Trump said during his inauguration speech that he would use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to “use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks” operating in the United States.

But Omar warned that the 1798 law would actually be used as a pretext for targeting immigrants based on their nationalities. The Alien Enemies Act was used to target Japanese, German and Italian immigrants during World War II

“The context in which Trump and Miller are raising the Alien Enemy Act is in what they say are their plans to target cartels and transnational criminal gangs,” Omar said “But it is not what the Alien Enemies Act does. The Alien Enemies Act targets people based on their nationality, not based on their behavior.”

Omar’s reintroduction of the bill came just before Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, a bill that would require law enforcement working with the Department of Homeland Security to detain and as well as deport undocumented immigrants arrested for nonviolent crimes. The Laken Riley Act will likely be the first bill Trump signs into law in his second term.

“(Trump) will use whatever tool he has to deport immigrants,” Hirono warned. “And by weaponizing this ancient law, just note this, any immigrant can be accused of association with gangs and cartels and they will be deported without due process of law.”

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson said he does not plan to bring the Neighbors not Enemies Act up for consideration on the House floor. Senate Majority Leader John Thune could not immediately be reached for comment on the bill.

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