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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1357 Engrossed in House (EH)]

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         July 31, 2008.
Whereas President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on 
        February 19, 1942, which authorized the forced exclusion of 120,000 
        Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens from the west coast of the 
        United States and the internment of United States citizens and legal 
        permanent residents of Japanese ancestry in confinement sites during 
        World War II without the benefit of due process;
Whereas no person of Japanese ancestry, who was confined during World War II 
        under the authority of Executive Order 9066, was convicted of espionage, 
        treason, or sabotage against the United States;
Whereas Japanese American men proved their loyalty to the United States with 
        battlefield valor serving in the 442d Regimental Combat Team, the 100th 
        Infantry Battalion, Army Air Corps, and the Military Intelligence 
        Service, and Japanese American women served with distinction in the 
        Women's Army Corps and Army Nurse Corps;
Whereas President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive Order 9066 on 
        February 19, 1976, in his speech, ``An American Promise'';
Whereas Congress adopted legislation which was signed by President Jimmy Carter 
        on July 31, 1980, establishing the Commission on Wartime Relocation and 
        Internment of Civilians to investigate the claim that the incarceration 
        of Japanese Americans and legal resident aliens during World War II was 
        justified by military necessity;
Whereas the Commission held 20 days of hearings and heard from over 750 
        witnesses on this matter and published its findings in a report entitled 
        ``Personal Justice Denied'';
Whereas the Commission's report concluded that the promulgation of Executive 
        Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity and that the decision 
        to issue the order was shaped by ``race prejudice, war hysteria, and a 
        failure of political leadership'';
Whereas the Commission also discovered that the United States Government 
        expanded its internment program and national security investigations to 
        conduct the program and investigations in Latin America;
Whereas according to the Commission, the United States Government financed 
        relocation to the United States, and internment, of approximately 2,300 
        Latin Americans of Japanese descent, for the purpose of exchanging the 
        Latin Americans of Japanese descent for United States citizens held by 
        Axis countries;
Whereas some of these Latin Americans of Japanese descent were deported to Axis 
        countries to enable the United States to conduct prisoner exchanges;
Whereas during World War II, the United States Government deemed as ``enemy 
        aliens'' more than 600,000 Italian-born and 300,000 German-born United 
        States resident aliens and their families and required them to carry 
        Certificates of Identification and limited their travel and personal 
        property rights;
Whereas during World War II, the United States Government arrested, interned, or 
        otherwise detained thousands of European Americans, some remaining in 
        custody for years after cessation of World War II hostilities, and 
        repatriated, exchanged, or deported European Americans, including 
        American-born children, to European Axis nations, many to be exchanged 
        for Americans held in those nations;
Whereas Congress enacted, with bipartisan support, the Civil Liberties Act of 
        1988, in which it acknowledged the ``fundamental injustices'' resulting 
        from Executive Order 9066, apologized on behalf of the people of the 
        United States for those injustices, and vowed to ``discourage the 
        occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in 
        the future'';
Whereas President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 into law 
        on August 10, 1988, proclaiming that ``Here we admit a wrong. Here we 
        affirm our commitment as a Nation to equal justice under the law''; and
Whereas the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 
        provides an opportunity for all United States citizens to appreciate the 
        greatness of our Nation in having the willingness to admit and remedy 
        its past mistakes and for political leaders to learn from those past 
        mistakes by not adopting racially motivated governmental policies: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms our Nation's commitment to equal justice under the law 
        for all people in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Civil 
        Liberties Act of 1988;
            (2) continues to support the congressional goal embodied in the 
        Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that all persons living under protection of 
        the United States Constitution have a right to enjoy freedom and 
        equality without the constraint of prejudice and discrimination or the 
        lack of due process; and
            (3) shall review the wartime treatment of Latin Americans of 
        Japanese descent, German Americans, and of Italian Americans, to 
        determine whether they should also receive an apology and reparations 
        similar to that provided in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 for Japanese 
        Americans interned during World War II.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.
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