The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents February 2025 The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and Mass Deportation Anne Watanabe What comes to mind when you hear “alien enemies?” Hostile green creatures, Klingons threatening the Starship Enterprise, or – French people? Congress passed the Alien Enemies Act in 1798 during a US “quasi war” with France (naval hostilities that were never officially declared as war). Enacted during a time of fierce anti-French sentiment and fear of espionage and sabotage, the Act granted sweeping power to the president to detain and deport non-natives. This law, together with three other acts, formed the Alien and Sedition Acts. Even amidst 18th Century anti- French hysteria, the laws were controversial. Three of the four acts were quickly repealed or allowed to sunset. But the Alien Enemies Act remains in effect to this day. Why should we care? Because today anti-immigrant sentiment runs high, and incoming Presi- dent Trump campaigned on promises to use the Act to detain undocumented immigrants and carry out mass deportations. The Act states: “Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, re- strained, secured, and removed as alien enemies.” The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times. During the War of 1812, President Madison used it to require British nationals to report extensive information about themselves to the government. During World War I, President Wilson used the Act (newly amended to include women as well as men as “alien enemies”) to register hundreds of thousands of German nationals, and to place several thousand in internment camps – in some cases up to two years after fighting had ended. During WWII, President Roosevelt used the Act to detain and/or deport thou- sands of German, Italian, and Japanese nationals (Executive Order 9066 and military orders were used to incarcerate Japanese American US citizens). Despite lacking connection or loyalty to a former homeland (even German Jews who had fled Germany were included) noncitizens were treated as “alien enemies” based on national origin. If President Trump attempts to use the Alien Enemies Act to achieve mass deportations, he will of course face vigorous challenges. The Act refers to a “declared war” and has only been invoked during wartime. With its lack of procedural safeguards concerning detention or deportation, the 1798 Act runs counter to established principles of due process and equal protection, and it conflicts with modern immigration law. And yet… The Act also refers to an attempted or threatened “invasion or predatory incursion” by a foreign nation or government. The President has described undocumented immigration as an “invasion,” perhaps laying the ground- work to use the Act during peacetime. The state of Texas did this in its clash with the Biden Administration, arguing that unlawful immigration constitutes an “invasion” allowing the state to use extraordinary measures. Several judges declined to decide whether an “invasion” had occurred, viewing this as a “political question” for the executive branch, not the judicial branch, under the doctrine established by the US Supreme Court in Baker v. Carr (1962). The potential thus exists for the judiciary to stand down when a president creates a pretext for using the Alien Enemies Act. For a deeper dive into this issue, the Brennan Center for Justice has an excellent legal analysis on its website: The Alien Enemies Act | Bren- nan Center for Justice. The sweeping powers granted by the Act may appeal to politicians who wish to detain and remove immigrants while bypassing hearings or other legal protections. If people can be treated as foreign enemies based on national origin, then due process, habeas corpus and other protections under domestic and international laws may be denied in the name of national security. In 2023, Senator Mazie Hirano and Rep. Ilhan Omar reintroduced their “Neighbors Not Enemies” Act (SB 1747/ HR 3610) to repeal the Alien Enemies Act (as of this writing, three Washington representatives have signed on). Politicians will still have other deportation tools at their disposal, but repeal of the Alien Enemies Act will protect immigrants from the abusive power of an 18th Century law -- so that we remain a nation of neighbors, not enemies. Anne Watanabe is Chair of PSARA's Race and Gender Equity (RaGE) Commit- tee and a member of PSARA's Executive Board. < Back to Table of Contents

Email address, phone, and mailing address for PSARA. Complete this form for general inquiries. Get in Touch Submit Thank you for contacting us! PSARA Directory: PSARA Executive Director Mike Andrew Organizer@psara.org PSARA Co-President s Karen Richter and Jeff Johnson president@psara.org Administrative Vice Presidents Jessica Bonebright Outreach Co-Vice President s Lisa Dekker and Rick Timmins Membership Vice President Angela Bartels Treasurer Tom Lux Government Relations Committee Chair Pam Crone Environmental Committee Co-Chairs Tom Lux, Bob Barnes, Bobby Righi Diversity Committee Co-Chairs Frank Irigon and Anne Watanabe Retiree Advocate Editor Mike Andrew msand76@hotmail.com Retiree Advocate Copy Editor Amy Davis Web Administrator Paul Muldoon Facebook Administrator Ellen Menshew PSARA Education Fund Directory: President Robby Stern Vice President Karen Ric h ter president@psara.org Secretary Barb Flye Treasurer Laila Saliba Board Member Carlos de la Torre Vanetta Molson Advocate Editor Mike Andrew msand76@hotmail.com Copy Editor Amy Davis Photographer Garet Munger Printing Trade Printery Need to reach us? Phone our office in the WSLC at (206) 261-8110. If necessary, leave a message with your phone number. We will call you back.

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2025 North Olympic Peninsula 2025: Rural Resistance! Lisa Dekker Like the rest of Washington State, Clallam County and the Peninsula are reeling from the harms happening now – and those yet to come – from this corrupt regime and their flagrant refusal to follow the law. But we are not taking this lying down. Our residents and our leaders are determined to resist. Olympic National Park, just outside Port Angeles, gets thousands of visitors each year and is an economic engine for the region. It was already unable to meet basic maintenance needs, and reduced staffing will make it worse. In addition, although $80 million was al- ready allocated by Congress to replace the Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge that burned down in 2023, delivery of those dollars is now uncertain. For many years Port Angeles has been a gateway for Canadian visitors via the Coho/BlackBall Ferry that connects us to Victoria, B.C., just 12 miles away. But now, the absurd tariffs and territorial threats coming from #47 have resulted in an understandable backlash of Canadians deciding not to spend their tourist dollars here. This will have grave economic consequences for our restaurants, hotels, and small businesses this summer unless the tariffs are undone. Likely the most unconscionable harms to individuals here would be the drastic cuts to Medicaid in the current Republican budget. With 20 percent of our adults and more than 37 percent of our children dependent on Medicaid in Clallam County alone, the devastation would be felt by thousands here on the Peninsula. So how are we fighting back? There have been sizeable rallies in Port Ange- les, Sequim, and Port Townsend (Jefferson County) that have many new faces and an enthusiastic response from the community. Indivisible Sequim, first begun in 2016, has had a surge of new members and has backed several rallies. One of the largest gatherings in Port Angeles, and the one with the most young people, was a raucous and upbeat march supporting the Olympic National Park and Park staffers who had been abruptly laid off. Clallam Democrats have become re-energized. With the leadership of their Chair, PSARA member Ellen Menshew, they have hosted timely forums and promoted many rallies. With a new online newsletter, Clallam Democrats Rising, plus a blog, a presence on Substack and Blue Sky, and an events calendar, the Dems are keeping members informed and involved. Our three County Commissioners even did their bit with a letter to Senators Murray and Cantwell and Congresswoman Emily Randall, reminding them of the impacts being felt here and asking that they “do all that they can to support our community.” We don’t know what’s next, but here in the northwest corner, we saw that despair became righteous anger, then hope, and now resistance. We are determined to fight back. Lisa Dekker is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach and a leader of PSARA's Clallam County organizing committee. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents December 2025 Election 2025: So Many Questions Mike Andrew There's something happening here But what it is ain't exactly clear Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth When Stephen Stills wrote those words in 1966, he was thinking of teenagers re- belling on Sunset Strip. But we could say the same thing about the 2025 elections. Sure, let’s celebrate – the election was a stunning repudiation of Trumpism. In some places it also seems to be an embrace of progressive people-centered politics. But, in my opinion, the results are deeply contradictory. In the headline news of the night, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York. In Seattle, Katie Wilson – called a “white, female Mamdani” by the Daily Mail – was also elected. In Tacoma too, Anders Ibsen beat a pro-business incumbent on promises of more people-oriented government. Democratic Party leaders are claiming the election as a huge victory and a harbinger of even greater success in the mid-term elections next year. Their lips to the voters’ ears. But the Democratic Party is still…well, the Democratic Party. As Bernie Sanders told The Nation (November 2025 issue): “[T]he Democratic Party (at its top) is mostly made up of folks who have money and consultants, and politicians who work with folks who have money and consultants…They spend an enormous amount of time raising money…They’re not about to take on the people who provide them with the money.” At the same time that Mamdani and Wilson were elected, two mainstream Democrats – one of them a former CIA agent – were elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey. Even in New York City, some Democratic Party regulars – having refused to endorse Mamdani when he won the party’s primary – distanced themselves even further from him after his electoral victory. In fact, The Staten Island and Queens Democratic Committees explicitly unendorsed him after the November 5 final election. “We have a lot of Democrats in Queens who do not support Mamdani,” the local Democratic Party Chair told MSN. “There is a reckoning occurring in the Democratic Party. There is a growing concern that socialism is hijacking the Democratic Party.” Bernie Sanders – who still draws huge, enthusiastic crowds at his rallies – tried twice and failed twice to turn the Democratic Party into a vehicle for progressive politics. Was he merely ahead of his time? Or are the institutional barriers that prevented Bernie from taking leadership of the Democratic Party still in place? Mamdani won election running against particularly loathsome opponents – an incumbent mayor who was saved from federal indictment only by cozying up to Donald Trump; a former governor forced to resign after multiple sexual harassment allegations; and the founder of a racist vigilante organization. Can that victory be replicated in other places under other circumstances and against respectable opponents? Katie Wilson’s victory in Seattle against mainstream Democrat Bruce Harrell suggests it can. But two examples don’t prove the case. Young people speaking their minds Getting so much resistance from behind In some ways, the split between pro and anti-Mamdani forces reflects a generational divide in the Democratic Party and among the party’s varied constituencies. Remember the four-and-a-half-month tenure of 25-year-old David Hogg as Vice Chair of the DNC? Hogg was driven out of his seat by old guard Democratic Party operatives, who objected to his plans to primary do-nothing Democratic incumbents with younger, bolder, and more aggressive candidates. The Mamdani and Wilson campaigns raise the same issues. What’s the value of Democratic incumbents if they can’t or won’t deliver on their party’s promises? After the election, “affordability” became the new buzz word for Democrats. Nice slogan, but what does it mean? For Mamdani it means publicly-owned grocery stores, a rent freeze, and $30 an hour minimum wage. For Wilson it means spending $1 billion on social housing and preventing private equity firms from buying up vacant homes. For young workers who find it less and less possible to live in New York or Seattle, these are practical measures that will help them sustain themselves and their families. What does “affordability” mean to Chuck Schumer? And if it doesn’t mean something concrete to him and his brand of Democrats, if it’s just the slogan du jour, maybe it’s time for all of them to step aside in favor of younger, bolder, and more aggressive candidates. We can and we should celebrate the election of 2025. But we should also be prepared for even more political struggles ahead. < Back to Table of Contents

The Retire Advocate < Back to Table of Contents June 2026 June 10: Social Security Worker Visibility Day A Letter From Jessica LaPointe, President, AFGE Council 220 From: Jessica LaPointe Brothers, Sisters, Siblings, I want to make sure every member of our union and allies reads this piece. This week, The New Yorker published a deeply reported article titled, "The Real Cost of Downsizing Social Security." The story follows a Midwest field office manager and a claims specialist in Duluth, Minnesota. When you read it, you will recognize them immediately — because their story is your story. The exhaustion, the impossible workloads, the constant policy reversals, the deep commitment to the public you serve despite it all. You didn't read about this in a magazine. You lived it. None of this is new to us. We have been documenting it, grieving it, bargaining over it, and fighting it for years. The article puts into stark relief what we have been working to expose for a decade and more acutely since January 2025: the hollowing out of an agency now running on a skeleton crew — while 75 million Americans depend on it. A few things stood out: Overall SSA staffing is now at its lowest level since the late 1960s — when the agency served roughly 50 million fewer beneficiaries. The consolidation of the Midwest region reduced a headquarters staff of roughly 500 policy experts down to just 16. The agency has lurched from one reversal to the next — on walk-in service, overpayment clawbacks, phone policy, field office closures — with too few resources to manage the impact on staff or the public. The inspector general documented that the agency was counting callback wait times as zero to make phone metrics look better than they are. Employee satisfaction scores plummeted from 54 out of 100 in 2024 to 15 in 2025. Our colleagues were forced to work through a 43-day government shutdown without pay. You knew all of this already. This article allows the country to continue to get exposed to the reality of their Social Security program. Please share this article widely — with your members, with your community, with anyone who uses or cares about Social Security. We will publish it on our website. The public needs to continue to understand that the service failures they are experiencing are the direct result of policy choices and lack of meaningful congressional action, not the failure of the dedicated workers serving them. That has always been our message, and it has never been more important. And here is more of what we are doing about it: June 10 — Social Security Worker Visibility Day: We are asking Social Security workers across the country to make themselves visible — to their communities, to the public, to each other, and to their elected officials. This is our opportunity to put a human face on the stories being reported, and remind the country who has been holding this agency together. These are nonpartisan actions. They are about the people we serve and the workers who show up for them every single day. June 10 is our chance to be heard again. IMPORTANT: All media inquiries should be directed to local and council leadership first. We want to make sure our members are protected and that our message stays clear and consistent. Thank you for everything you do every single day. In Solidarity, Jessica LaPointe, President, AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) Council 220 PSARA will sponsor events in Tacoma and Port Angeles. Tacoma June 10, 4:30-6:00 p.m. 2608 S 47th St, Tacoma, WA 98409 Port Angeles June 10, 5:00-6:00 p.m. 138 W 1st St, Port Angeles, WA 98362 WSARA will sponsor events in Spokane and Everett. Spokane June 10, Noon - 1:30 p.m. 714 N Iron Bridge Way, Spokane, WA 99202 Everett June 10, Noon-1:30 p.m. 3809 Broadway, Everett, WA 98201 < Back to Table of Contents