Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times
Episode 3: Alien Enemies Act
This week, our hosts delve into the Alien Enemies Act of 1789, with guest speakers Liza Goitein & Katherine Yon Ebright.
Guest Speakers
Elizabeth Goitein
Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice
Katherine Yon Ebright
Counsel, Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice
Episode Transcript
Read the transcript for episode 3.
Show Notes
- The text of the Alien Enemies Act: Original archive / PDF.
- Presidential Proclamation, March 15, 2025: Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua.
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Memorandum Opinion JGG v Trump (March 24, 2025)
- U.S. Supreme Court, Trump v. J.G.G. (April 7, 2025)
- U.S. District Court of Maryland, Abrego Garcia v. Noem (April 6, 2025)
- U.S. Supreme Court, Noem v. Abrego Garcia (April 10, 2025)
- Video of Oval Office meeting of President Trump and President Bukele (April 14, 2025)
- Elizabeth Goitein and Katherine Yon Ebright, Feb. 19, 2025, Trump’s Doubly Flawed “Invasion” Theory.
- Katherine Yon Ebright, Brennan Center for Justice,
- Oct. 9, 2024, The Alien Enemies Act, Explained. This detention and deportation power poses an alarming risk of abuse and rights violations in both wartime and peacetime.
- Oct. 16, 2024: The Alien Enemies Act. A dangerous wartime authority is broad enough that it could be used for mass deportations in the absence of war.
- Amanda Tyler, Mar. 28, 2025, Jurisdiction and Remedy in J.G.G. v. Trump
- Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, Mar. 31, 2025: The Makeup Artist Donald Trump Deported Under the Alien Enemies Act.
- Ian Crouch, The New Yorker, Apr. 1, 2025: The Makeup Artist Deported by Trump.
- Erwin Chemerinsky and Laurence H. Tribe, New York Times, Apr. 9, 2024: We Should All Be Very, Very Afraid
- Alan Feuer and Jonah E. Bromwich, New York Times, April 9, 2025: Rulings in New York and Texas Curb Deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador. The decisions suggest that the battle over using a wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport migrants is certain to persist.
- Press reports on wrongful removals
- April 14, 2024, Documented: ICE Took His Son From Their Bronx Apartment. Now His Son Is In Bukele’s Mega-prison In El Salvador.
- April 7, 2025, NBC News: Family fears for safety of Venezuelan makeup artist deported to Salvadoran megaprison.
- April 7, 2025, CBS News: ICE claims tattoos tie migrants to the Tren de Aragua gang. Experts say they aren’t reliable identifiers.
- April 1, 2025, NPR: Trump administration admits Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison by mistake.
- March 26, 2025, ACLU: Trump Invokes the Alien Enemies Act to Carry Out Mass Deportations, Explained.
Research Support
Monica Salmón Gomez
Research and Student Assistant