WASHINGTON, D.C.—A group of conservative and independent former government and national security officials, including those who were elected as Republicans or served in Republican administrations, and Democracy Defenders Fund, have submitted an amicus brief opposing the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. The amici are calling its use patently unlawful and unnecessary, and are warning that permitting its use would set a dangerous precedent.

The brief argues that the Alien Enemies Act does not apply to the current situation and that existing immigration and criminal laws already give the government the tools it needs to protect public safety and national security.

The amici state, “The Trump Administration improperly invoked the AEA to enforce its immigration and public safety policy objectives. Altogether apart from one’s views concerning those objectives, the Administration’s use of the AEA is unlawful, and unnecessary. The Executive Branch has at its disposal a panoply of immigration and criminal statutes to remove dangerous noncitizen gang members and other public safety and national security threats from the country. The AEA is not one of them.”

A full list of the amici curiae, who are represented by Amb. Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Stuart M. Gerson, is below:

Alan Charles Raul, Associate Counsel to the President in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988.

Barbara Comstock, Representative of the 10th Congressional District of Virginia from 2015 to 2019 (R).

Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 (R); Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2003.

Christopher Shays, Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Connecticut from 1987 to 2009 (R).

Donald B. Ayer, Deputy Attorney General in the George H.W. Bush Administration from 1989 to 1990; Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1981 to 1986 in the Reagan Administration.

Mickey Edwards, Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Oklahoma from 1977 to 1993 (R).

Fern M. Smith, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California appointed by President Reagan from 1988 to 2005.

John J. Farmer Jr., New Jersey Attorney General from 1999 to 2002 (R); Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1990 to 1994.

John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington appointed by George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007.

Paul Rosenzweig, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush Administration from 2005 to 2009.

Peter Keisler, Acting Attorney General in the George W. Bush Administration in 2007; Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division in the Bush Administration from 2003 to 2007; Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General and Acting Associate Attorney General in the Bush Administration from 2002 to 2003; Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President in the Reagan Administration from 1986 to 1988.

Philip Lacovara, Counsel to the Special Prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecutor’s Office in the Nixon Administration from 1973 to 1974.

Robert Shanks, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1984.

Stanley A. Twardy, Jr., United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1985 to 1991 and Chief of Staff to Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker, Jr from 1991 to 1993.

Susan Molinari, Representative of the 14th Congressional District of New York from 1990 to 1993 and the 13th Congressional District of New York from 1993 to 1997 (R).

Tom Coleman, Assistant Attorney General of Missouri from 1969 to 1972; Missouri State Representative from 1973 to 76; Representative of the 6th Congressional District of Missouri from 1976 to 1993 (R).

Trevor Potter, Chairman of the Federal Election Commission and Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission from 1991 to 1995; General Counsel to John McCain’s Presidential Campaign from 2000 to 2008.

Ty Cobb, Special Counsel to the President in the Trump Administration from 2017 to 2018 and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland from 1980 to 1986.

William F. Weld, Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997 (R) and United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division from 1986 to 1988.

William Joseph Walsh, Representative of the 8th Congressional District of Illinois from 2011 to 2013 (R).

Democracy Defenders Fund is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization committed to upholding the rule of law and defending the Constitution. 

On March 15, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act as a way to speed up the removal of certain Venezuelan gang members who are in the United States. The law grants the President extraordinary powers in times of war or in response to an "invasion or predatory incursion" to detain and remove individuals from a country at war with the U.S. or believed to be engaged in an invasion.

The amicus brief can be found HERE: