“As a Japanese American whose grandfather and his immediate family were incarcerated for two years without cause during WWII, seeing President Trump invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to deport immigrants now is deeply, terribly painful. It is a cruel, unnecessary assault on our fundamental freedoms to deport people to prisons in El Salvador without providing any due process. 

“More than 80 years ago, at age 12, my grandpa was incarcerated along with his older brother, mother, father, and 120,000 other Japanese Americans. His family was sent to Heart Mountain in Wyoming, where they stayed for two years, living in cramped converted horse stalls that had no running water or electricity, despite the freezing cold. My grandpa was often separated from his father who was sent to work on the railroad, and his mother who worked in camp, and left completely alone. Like so many other Japanese Americans, my family lost their business, home, and possessions, and their family and cultural ties were forever strained. It took generations to recover economically, and they never recovered from the trauma brought on by being locked up and having their lives upended for no reason.

“This unjust, inhumane way of treating people is a shameful part of our country’s past that should never be repeated. Rounding up immigrants and deporting them without giving them any chance to defend themselves, is cruel, racist, and xenophobic. America’s moms want every asylum-seeker and every immigrant family to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect – not to see our government repeat a horrendous, disgraceful chapter from our past.”