Rep. Pramila Jayapal introduces bill to impede Trump's undocumented immigrant registry
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., introduced a bill Friday that would prevent the Trump administration from using a World War II-era law that allowed for the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans to build a current registry of undocumented immigrants.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., introduced a bill Friday that would prevent the Trump administration from using a World War II-era law that allowed for the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans to build a current registry of undocumented immigrants.
The legislation from Jayapal, titled the “No Round Up Act,” would repeal the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which required the fingerprinting and registration of noncitizen adults. Trump pointed to it as the basis for an executive order in January that instructed the Department of Homeland Security to ensure undocumented immigrants comply with their “duty to register with the government.”
As part of the order last month, the administration announced it would require undocumented immigrants to register, give fingerprints and provide an address, or potentially face prosecution.
The long-dormant act was passed during a time when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was monitoring the Japanese American community, even ordering the creation of lists of those of Japanese descent in Hawaii. The year after the act was passed, the FBI and police began raiding homes of those of Japanese descent that they had deemed as suspicious. And it eventually paved the way for the roundup of those of Japanese descent.
“This policy is associated with some of the most shameful stains on our country’s history,” Jayapal said in a press release, referencing the forced incarceration of some 120,000 Japanese Americans. “Now, the Trump administration is aiming to use this policy as a tool to force immigrants to register and subject themselves to a mass deportation scheme.”
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