H. Res. 1357 

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Whereas President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive 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’’; 
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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 
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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— 
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(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.