Immigrant rights advocates and members from San Francisco’s Japanese American community joined to condemn President Donald Trump’s invoking of a law that was last used during World War II to detain tens of thousands of people of Japanese ancestry.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, established 22 years after the United States gained independence, allows the president to expedite the removal of unnaturalized immigrants from nations at war with the U.S. It has been invoked several times in America’s history, but only during wartime.

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Alise is a general assignment reporter with a focus on covering government, elections, housing, crime, courts and entertainment in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Alise is a Bay Area native from San Carlos. She studied history at University of California, Santa Cruz and first started journalism at Skyline College’s school newspaper in San Bruno. She has interned for Bay City News and for Eesti Rahvusringhääling, or Estonian Public Broadcasting. She has covered everything from the removal of former San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus to the divisive battle over the Great Highway on San Francisco’s west side. Please send her any tips.