The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history
Sat, 15 Mar 2025
Rachel Maddow shares the amazing, historic story of how former Senator Alan Simpson and former Representative Norm Mineta partnered on hearings into the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and why Donald Trump's reported plan to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was used to justify Japanese internment, is raising alarm.
Chapter 1: What sparked the community protests in Haddon Township?
Thanks to At Home for joining us this hour. Happy Friday night. Really, really happy to have you here. I've got a story we're going to lead with tonight that I don't think you've heard anywhere else. We are going to start tonight in Haddon Township, New Jersey. H-A-D-D-O-N. Haddon Township. It's pretty close to Camden. It's also pretty close to Philly. But it's a very, very New Jersey place.
And I mean that in the best possible way. We have been watching one particular community story unfold in Haddon Township, New Jersey, over the course of the last couple of weeks. And I want you to see this story and what's happened here over the last couple of weeks, because I think it tells you something about where we are at right now as a people and as a country.
In Haddon Township Saturday... An outpouring of support. Both sides of Hadnav lined with people, all here to stand behind the Emanet family, owners of this local restaurant, Jersey Kebab, after parents Jalal and Amina were arrested by ICE Tuesday morning.
It's been truly a roller coaster of feelings for the last few days.
Their son, Muhammad, says his mom remains in ICE custody. His dad was released with an ankle bracelet. While they're closed until further notice, he was here cooking free food for the community that has showed his family love, filling their store windows with notes and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This shows me, like, this is not okay.
It just saddens us. ICE released a statement Friday. While they did not share many specific details about the case, a spokesperson did write in part, as with any non-citizen in the U.S. without lawful status, ICE officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis to focus on the greatest threats to homeland security.
Mohammed says his parents have no criminal histories, and he says they are not threats, known here to give back. I think it's obvious. It's clear that they're a pillar of the community. They're a model. With Ramadan now underway, Muhammad says his family's sole focus is on securing his mom's release from ICE custody.
The situation, the court case will go on, but all we're worried about is just having our mom by our side.
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Chapter 2: How did the community support the Emanet family?
We're going to stick with them no matter how long this takes. So that was starting a couple weeks ago, these protests in Haddon Township, New Jersey, over the mom from the beloved local Jersey kebab shop being arrested by the Trump administration. It turns out that was just the start.
One by one, community members had their handwritten letters notarized and tucked in an envelope to send to the court. The goal is for the judges, the politicians, and anyone locally with influence and power to know that the community stands by this resident. Isis Williams is the president of a group working to bring inclusivity and equity to their community.
Members set up a letter-writing campaign Sunday on behalf of M&A M&Net. We are a loving environment in this town. Dozens of people packed into a yoga studio just down the street from the kebab business.
Emile's a great, great person, runs a great business here on Hadnav that we eat at frequently, has done a lot, especially through COVID, caring for members of the community.
All hoping their words of experience with the M&M's would make a difference. Their business is a beloved establishment that brings both delicious food and beautiful culture that enriches the community.
Again, this is this is Haddon Township, New Jersey. And I'm telling you, that wasn't the end of it either. Watch this.
Here in Camden County, we take it as a personal attack on all of us.
In South Jersey, a gathering of support for a family facing uncertainty.
The really only thing we wish we could have is our mother by our side.
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Chapter 3: What historic event connects Alan Simpson and Norm Mineta?
More than 40 years later, in 1988, that little kid Alan from Cody was now Republican U.S. Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming. And that little kid Norman from Heart Mountain, he was now Democratic Congressman Norm Mineta.
And together, in 1988, they convened bipartisan hearings on the legally, strategically, and morally disastrous decisions that led to 120,000 Japanese Americans, some of them citizens, some of them not, being forced out of their homes and forcibly relocated into prison camps.
Alan Simpson and Norm Mineta drafted the 1988 Civil Liberties Act, which was signed into law by a president named Ronald Reagan. And that said that the internment of Japanese Americans in this country, which had been done under a law that dated back to the 1700s, a rarely used legal authority, was
That law signed by Ronald Reagan in 1988, the Civil Liberties Act, said that the internment of Japanese Americans had been based on racial prejudice and war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. 1988 Civil Liberties Act formally apologized on behalf of the United States of America to Japanese Americans for what we had done to them.
And it paid them reparations just to try to make it right. The legal grounds for interning Japanese Americans in World War II was something called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. That was only the third time it had ever been used in American history. It had been used in the War of 1812. It had been used in World War I. And it had been used for Japanese internment in World War II.
Last night, we started to see headlines like this one at the Wall Street Journal. Quote, Trump to invoke seldom used wartime law from 1798. Or this one from CBS News. Professor says Trump's plan to invoke Alien Enemies Act of 1798 sidesteps immigration laws. And then inevitably, because of the history of that law, we started to see last night headlines like this.
from the ABC affiliate in San Diego in this case, Japanese Americans react to Trump's plan to invoke Alien Enemies Act. And then this morning, we got the news that Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming died today in Cody, Wyoming, where he was from. He was 93 years old. President Donald Trump gave a speech today at the U.S. Justice Department, which itself is a rare thing for a president to do.
In that speech, he was expected, White House sources had made clear to lots of reporters that President Trump was expected to announce at that speech that he is going to invoke the Japanese internment law. He is going to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which again, has only ever been used three times before in our country and always in wartime.
And the last time we used it, men like Norman Netta and Alan Simpson and fricking Ronald Reagan ended up moving the nation to apologize for it, to call it a stain on our national honor, and not only to formally apologize, but to pay reparations for what we have done. Trump wants to do it again, according to multiple White House sources in speaking with multiple reporters at multiple news agencies.
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Chapter 4: Why is the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 controversial?
Talking about slashing Social Security, cutting health care benefits for poor people, for seniors. It's one bad thing after the next. He's firing veterans. I'm a veteran. So I have a really hard time
driving around in this thing so i think it's time for an upgrade today so this is going to be my last last trip in this car there's some things i really liked about it there are things i didn't like about it but that doesn't matter what matters is uh you know doing the right thing i think it's time to get rid of it you know elon musk kind of turned out to be a and i don't want to be driving the car built and designed by
Pushback looks different everywhere. It involves all kinds of people in all kinds of places and it takes all kinds of forms. Can't win if you don't play. We've got big Justice Department news tonight. We've got truly unsettling news tonight about a volcano. And the volcano isn't the worst of it.
We've got news about a big protest, a big national protest being called for Saturday, April 5th in Washington, D.C. We'll have details on that ahead of you tonight from one of the organizers. We've got a lot to get to tonight. Stay with us. One of Donald Trump's first acts upon being sworn in as president for a second term was to appoint a new US attorney in Washington, D.C. His name is Ed Martin.
It quickly became clear what made Ed Martin so appealing to Trump for this term. Ed Martin was at the US Capitol on January 6th. He said it was great, said it was like Mardi Gras. He later served as a defense lawyer for several Trump supporters who were charged with attacking police officers during the attack on the Capitol that day. Once Trump named him U.S.
attorney in Washington, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Mr. Martin immediately set about demoting and firing federal prosecutors who had worked on January 6th cases. He also, honestly, tried to indict Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, an effort so outlandish he apparently couldn't even get Trump Justice Department officials to sign off on it.
Ed Martin also tried to get one top prosecutor in his office to order a bank to freeze billions of dollars that had been dispersed by the Biden administration in a federal grant. That prosecutor resigned rather than follow that order from Ed Martin.
She resigned because she said there was no crime, there was no legal justification for opening a criminal investigation and thereby freezing those funds. She said he was essentially telling her to fake a criminal investigation and she wouldn't do it.
Ed Martin, after she resigned, then personally signed and submitted a seizure warrant for the funds in that bank account because he couldn't find anybody else willing to sign it. The judge he submitted that warrant to rejected it because, again, no evidence of any crime.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Trump's reported plans?
Subject, ending procurement of paper straws. Quote, in accordance with President Trump's direction. The Department of Justice—she's talking about the U.S. Department of Justice—shall take appropriate action to eliminate the procurement of paper straws and ensure that paper straws are no longer provided within department buildings.
Department components shall take appropriate action to identify and eliminate any portion of policy or guidance documents designed to disfavor plastic straws. Oh, you guys, the Justice Department's long nightmare is over.
Today, Pam Bondi took time out of her busy schedule of vanquishing plastic straw discrimination to welcome the president to the Justice Department, making sure to point out to him the most important decor, the picture of him, after which Trump gave a long, long, discursive, rambling, angry speech to Justice Department employees that included basically handing them a handy list of enemies he'd like them to look into.
Ed Martin at the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, he seems to already have his own enemies list. I mentioned that Ed Martin tried to indict Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer is one of only several people, including several elected officials, all Democrats, who Martin appears to be targeting for investigation.
He's also sent a letter to Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia because Robert Garcia criticized Elon Musk, so that got him a threatening letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman this week also revealed that he has received a threatening letter from Ed Martin, this one asking about his personal finances.
Eugene Vindman and his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, have long been targets of Donald Trump's rage and invective for their roles in bringing to light the events that led to Trump's first impeachment. This is the letter that D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin sent to Congressman Vindman. It starts, quote, Dear Eugene... Do you always write your business just dear?
Quote, I have received requests for clarification of your personal financial disclosures over the past year. I look forward to your cooperation with my letter of inquiry after requests. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this. Please respond by day, month, date 2025. That is literally what the letter says. Day, month, date 2025. Only the best people.
Washington Post now reports that Ed Martin has sent about 20 of these kinds of threatening letters to public officials and public figures of various kinds. We only know about this one to Congressman Vindman because he decided to go public with it, saying Trump is trying to, quote, intimidate and silence public servants like me, and it's not going to work. Congressman Vindman joins us next.
Stay with us. Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman represents the 7th District in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This week, we learned that he is one of the lucky recipients of what a non-lawyer might call a nasty gram and what a lawyer might call a threat from Donald Trump's hand-picked U.S. attorney, top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C.
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Chapter 6: How are people protesting Trump's policies across the U.S.?
I think Americans of all stripes are concerned about the dynamic that you're talking about, using the power of the criminal law, using things like the power of the IRS, using powers of the government writ large to go after the kinds of enemies list that President Trump, frankly, rattled through at what was supposed to be a policy speech today at the U.S.
Justice Department before it dissolved into an airing of grievances and what appeared to be directives to Justice Department personnel in the room that they should go after individually named people and organizations who the president rattled off from the podium today. A lot of Americans, I think, are concerned about where this is now and how much worse it could get. Do you think that Congress—
has a specific role, has a list of things that can be done to try to push back and curtail the way they see the government as their weapon against their enemies.
Well, 100 percent. I mean, we we obviously have an oversight role in our committees. And so we asked tough questions for folks that appear from the administration about why they're doing things. I've asked those very same tough questions of the Department of Defense.
I sit on the House Armed Services Committee about why they fired the chairman, several senior flag and general officers and all the uniformed lawyers. So Mr. Raskin is asking those same questions in the judiciary about folks that work in the justice sector. can't do is we can't sit back. We can't let them, you know, have have the space and intimidate and silence hardworking civil servants.
I spoke to an attorney that is working in civil society and she was she responded very vigorously to white supremacists and and
And if we're going to have attorneys, a black woman in civil society that stand firm against skinheads and neo-Nazis, then it's incumbent on those of us that have sworn an oath to the Constitution to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign, domestic, to do at least that.
Virginia Congressman Eugene Vindman, a man who's proven over and over again that he can't be intimidated. Thank you so much for your time tonight, sir. I know that you're not intimidated by this. I know that you're saying it won't work, but I'm still sorry that this happened to you. Keep us surprised, sir. It's nice to have you here.
Thank you, Rachel.
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Chapter 7: What actions has Ed Martin taken as U.S. Attorney?
We have a flooding threat, very large hail threat, severe damaging wind threat, and the potential for long track tornadoes. This is from the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama. Quote, please don't panic, but be ready, be prepared. Again, these warnings to alert people and prepare them, these are coming from the National Weather Service.
which is part of an agency where Doge is reportedly planning another round of more than a thousand firings. Austerity. Efficiency. This is what it looks like in practice. For weeks now, we have seen protest after protest all across the country as Americans have pushed back against this Strategy.
Pushed back against what Donald Trump and his top campaign donor have been doing to the United States and to the federal government. Demonstrations all over the country. Now the activist group Indivisible is planning for a big one. But they want to be a big central demonstration where everybody shows up in the same place.
Saturday, April 5th, Indivisible is announcing what they're calling Hands Off, a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history. Joining us now is Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible. Ezra, thank you for being with us tonight. I appreciate it.
Of course, Rachel. Great to be here.
It's been a couple of weeks since we checked in. Tell me how Indivisible has been operating over these past few weeks. I know the president and Republican members of Congress have started to talk about you as if you are some sort of, like, foreign terrorist threat or something. We know that you've got their attention. How have things been from Indivisible's perspective?
Look, we're going through what's known as a wave moment in organizing circles at Indivisible. We had more local Indivisible groups join. These are volunteers. Start local Indivisible groups in their community in November than any months in 2017. We beat the November month in December, beat the December month in January, beat the January month in February. It's mid-March.
We've had over 100 local indivisible groups join, and these are peaceful protesters shown up to make their voices heard in red states, purple states, blue states. So how's it going? Well, the opposition has taken note and criticized us, so I think it's going pretty darn well.
What's the plan for April 5th, and how is that different from the other kinds of actions that you guys have been taking part in?
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