Rep. Doris Matsui Condemns Trump's Afghan Targeting
Drawing on her family’s history, Matsui referenced the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans.
U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui on Friday drew a sharp historical parallel between the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the Trump administration's recent targeting of Sacramento’s Afghan community, demanding accountability for a series of detentions carried out by federal immigration authorities.
Matsui (D-Calif.) joined local advocacy groups at a press conference to condemn the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after multiple Afghan asylum applicants were reportedly detained at the John Moss Building following routine check-ins.
Drawing on her family’s history, Matsui referenced the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including her parents and grandparents, and warned that a "ugly history" must not be repeated.
“We see it happening again, and we look to see why is it happening again,” Matsui said. She invoked the Civil Liberties Act and President Reagan’s apology for the internment camps, concluding, “We cannot go back. We cannot go back”.
The press conference, held with advocates from NorCal Resist and the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sacramento Valley Central California (CAIR-SVCC), follows a week in which the Trump administration was accused by Matsui's office of intensifying "reckless, xenophobic rhetoric about immigrant communities." The Congresswoman stressed that the actions targeting Afghan asylum-seekers were an attack on the entire community.
“Just because you have another national origin, just because you don't look familiar, just because you feel someone doesn't fit in does not mean you target an entire community,” Matsui said. She called on residents to stand together, adding, “none of us are really safe unless we stand up together”
The highly public stand against the administration's immigration policies comes as Matsui, a longtime establishment Democrat, faces a primary challenge from the progressive wing of her party. Matsui is being challenged by Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang in the June 2026 primary election, part of a nationwide effort by Democrats upset with what they view as complacency by entrenched Democratic elected officials in Congress.
The gathering at 650 Capitol Mall was organized to demand transparency from the Trump administration regarding the detentions and the broader policy targeting the Afghan community in the Sacramento region.
