Neighbors Not Enemies Act Repeals 1798 Wartime Detention Power: Eliminating Decades of Presidential Authority Over Non-Citizens.

The Neighbors Not Enemies Act is a straightforward piece of legislation with a massive historical footprint. Its sole purpose is to repeal the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 by striking Sections 4067 through 4070 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. While that sounds like a dry housekeeping task for the law books, it actually removes a law that gives the President broad authority to detain or deport any non-citizen over the age of 14 who is a national of a country the U.S. is at war with, or one that has threatened 'predatory incursions' against the U.S.

Sunsetting a 225-Year-Old Power

This isn't just a minor edit; it’s a full deletion of a law that has been on the books since the John Adams administration. Under the current statute (Section 4067), if the U.S. declares war or an invasion is threatened, the President can issue a proclamation to have citizens of the hostile nation 'apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed.' Because the bill repeals these sections entirely, that specific legal mechanism for mass detention based solely on national origin would vanish. For a modern-day software engineer here on a visa or a local shop owner who hasn't yet naturalized, this repeal means their legal status could no longer be summarily bypassed by an executive order triggered by a foreign conflict.

From Historical Precedent to Modern Protections

To understand the impact, you have to look at how this law has functioned in the real world. This is the same authority that was used to justify the internment of Japanese, German, and Italian non-citizens during World War II. By repealing Section 4068—which outlines how the President can dictate the 'degree of the restraint'—the bill ensures that future wartime policies must adhere to modern due process standards rather than an 18th-century framework. It effectively closes a loophole where someone could be detained not for something they did, but simply because of where they were born.

What Changes for the Legal System

By scrubbing Sections 4069 and 4070, the bill also removes the specific judicial instructions that currently allow courts to process these detentions. Currently, if the President issues a proclamation under the Alien Enemies Act, the courts are directed to handle the 'removal' of these individuals. Without these sections, the executive branch would lose its shortcut to bypass the standard immigration and criminal court systems. For everyday residents, this shift moves the needle toward a system where individual actions, rather than national identity during a crisis, dictate how the government treats you.