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Recent News Spotlight
Recent News Spotlight
Hello! My name is Katie Marumoto, and I am honored to have been selected as a recipient of a 2025 JACL National Scholarship!
At the University of Utah, I am studying secondary education history teaching. My dream is to become a United States History and Government educator for high school students. I want to teach students about all aspects of American history, including the parts that we as Americans must learn from, such as the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and the fight for redress.
I love being apart of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the JACL, where I serve as a youth representative and a social media manager.
Once again I am so grateful for this opportunity and the opportunities the JACL offers!
Salt Lake JACL Statements
Salt Lake JACL Statements
Advocacy
Advocacy
The Neighbors Not Enemies Act would repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in its entirety. The 1798 laws known collectively as the “Alien and Sedition Acts” were a set of four bills targeting immigrants under the guise of war. While three of the acts have since expired or been repealed, the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) remains in effect to this day. The AEA should be repealed because it is an archaic law that has been used to single out racial and religious minorities and deny them due process and the human right to be treated fairly.
During World War II, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA) was used to detain Japanese and Japanese Americans living in America without evidence of actions threatening national security. The AEA gives the President extreme executive powers to target foreign nationals of an “enemy nation” during wartime. The AEA allows the U.S. government to “apprehend, restrain, secure and remove” any non-U.S. citizen from a “hostile nation” without due process or evidence of wrongdoing. During the 2016 election, President Trump referred to the usage of AEA as a justification for the Muslim Ban stopping people from a long list of predominately Muslim countries from entering the U.S. This law has also been rendered redundant by many other laws that still exist to effectively defend our nation against foreign actors, and does not serve as a lynchpin of modern American national security. More recently, in March of 2025, President Trump invoked the AEA to arrest and deport Venezuelan immigrants without due process to a prison in El Salvador, despite a federal judge’s order to halt the action.
To learn more about the Alien Enemies Act and how it was and is currently being used to target immigrants, see this AEA White Paper.
At Salt Lake JACL, we are organizing educational events and meetings with government officials to urge our representatives to co-sponsor the Neighbors Not Enemies Act which would repeal the Alien Enemies Act in its entirety. If you would like to be a part of this effort, please reach out to kasao@jacl.org or use our contact form and write AEA under "Comments".
JACL National Amicus Brief Sign-on
We are working with a national team of lawyers and community leaders to prepare a legal document called an “amicus brief” for the U.S. Supreme Court. This brief is specifically for descendants of Japanese, Japanese Latin Americans, Germans and Italians who were arrested/detained during World War II under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—not Executive Order 9066.
Why This Matters
On March 15, 2025, the President invoked the Alien Enemies Act, the same law that was used during World War II to imprison more than 31,000 noncitizens—including Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants. Now, this old law is being used again to deport Venezuelan people, without a trial, without evidence—just as it was used against our relatives. See, Executive Order March 15, 2025 Several lawsuits have already begun, and the issue may reach the U.S. Supreme Court in the next session (after Oct 6, 2025).
What Is an Amicus Brief?
An amicus brief, also known as a friend-of-the-court brief, is a legal document submitted to a court by someone who is not a party to a case but has a strong interest in its outcome. It offers the court additional information, arguments, perspectives, or personal stories that may not be presented by the parties directly involved in the litigation. They are intended to inform and influence the Court’s decision by offering personal stories, perspectives, and consequences of the Court’s ruling. Our stories will help the judges understand what this law did to real people—and why it is unjust. Who Can Join? You are invited to add your name if you are an adult descendant (blood relative) of someone who was arrested/detained during World War II under the Alien Enemies Act.
How to sign on?
If you believe you are eligible and you would like to include your name in this important legal effort, please complete the AEA Descendants sign-on form in full. Include all required details, including your street address, city and state, as this is needed for a legal conflicts-of-interest check by the pro bono legal team.
We kindly request that each relative, sign up using this link: Link to Google Sign-up Form
Alien Enemies Act Descendants’ Amicus Brief Core Team
❖ Naoko Fujii, Mike Honda, Carol Kawase, Larry Oda (Japanese American Citizens League)
❖ Bekki Shibayama (Campaign For Justice: Redress NOW For Japanese Latin Americans!)
❖ Karen Ebel (German American Internee Coalition)
❖ Co-counsel David Franklin (Massey & Gail LLP) and Kristy Parker (Protect Democracy)
❖ Coordinating counsel Katherine Ebright and Leah Tulin (Brennan Center for Justice)
❖ Professor Russell Endo, Professor Emeritus, Sociology and Asian American Studies, University of Colorado
❖ Professor Natsu Saito, Regents' Professor Emerita, Georgia State University College of Law
❖ Daniel Mayeda, former partner, Leopold, Petrich, and Smith and co-founder of the UCLA Documentary Film Legal Clinic
❖ Peggy Nagae, lead counsel for Minoru Yasui’s coram nobis case and consultant for the Masuo Yasui descendants
If you have any questions, please contact Carol Kawase of the Sonoma JACL, who will assist to explain our project and help with the verification process. Carol can be reached at sonomacojacl1934@gmail.com.
Salt Lake JACL In the News
Salt Lake JACL In the News
JACL Conducts Advocacy Training in SLC (Pacific Citizen, 2025, pg. 9)
Undergraduate Scholarship Winner, Salt Lake JACL's Youth Rep: Katie Marumoto (Pacific Citizen, 2025)
2024 Day of Remembrance Panel Hosted at Westminster University (Westminster University, 2024)
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