Sponsors (11)
The bill modernizes wartime detention law and strengthens civil‑liberties protections by repealing an archaic 'alien enemies' statute, at the cost of removing a long‑standing statutory tool that could create short‑term legal gaps, limit options for national‑security actors in extreme crises, and require future legislative and fiscal fixes.
Immigrants (and people residing in the U.S.) are less at risk of mass or arbitrary wartime internment because the outdated 'alien enemies' detention/removal statute is removed.
The general public gains stronger checks on executive wartime detention authority because the bill limits an expansive, antiquated statutory power that presidents might otherwise invoke unilaterally.
Civil liberties enforcement and fair process are promoted because the law encourages reliance on contemporary legal safeguards and judicial procedures instead of archaic enemy‑alien rules.
Law‑enforcement and national security actors lose a statutory tool for apprehending/removing 'enemy aliens' in a declared war, potentially limiting government options in extreme national‑security crises.
Local governments and agencies may face short‑term legal uncertainty about what detention authorities are permissible until Congress or courts clarify replacement authorities, complicating operational planning.
Taxpayers could incur new costs if Congress later enacts narrower replacement detention/removal authorities or funds implementation and oversight of alternative frameworks.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Repeals 50 U.S.C. §§ 21–24, removing the statutory Alien Enemies Act and its companion provisions that authorized detention/removal of certain non‑citizens.
Repeals the federal statutory provisions known today as the Alien Enemies Act (50 U.S.C. §§ 21–24), removing the statutory authority that permits the apprehension, restraint, removal, and regulation of non‑citizens designated as “alien enemies” and eliminating the presidential proclamation‑based powers tied to those sections. The repeal does not itself replace those authorities with alternative procedures; it simply removes those four statutory provisions from the United States Code.
Official title: Repeal the Alien Enemies Act.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Mazie Hirono · Last progress January 22, 2025