I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 779

To allow certain individuals of Japanese ancestry who were brought forcibly 

to the United States from countries in Latin America during World 

War II and were interned in the United States to be provided restitution 

under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2003

Mr. BECERRA (for himself, Mr. WU, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. BACA, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 

HONDA, Mr. REYES, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. PASTOR, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́, Mr. 

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. SERRANO, and Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To allow certain individuals of Japanese ancestry who were 

brought forcibly to the United States from countries 

in Latin America during World War II and were interned 

in the United States to be provided restitution under 

the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wartime Parity and 

5 Justice Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS UNDER 

2 CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT OF 1988. 

3 (a) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of the Civil Liberties 

4 Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. App. 1989 et seq.), the following 

5 individuals shall be deemed to be eligible individuals: 

6 (1) An individual who—

7 (A) is of Japanese ancestry, or is the 

8 spouse or parent of an individual of Japanese 

9 ancestry; 

10 (B) was brought forcibly to the United 

11 States from a country in Central America or 

12 South America during the evacuation, reloca13 tion, and internment period; 

14 (C) was living on August 10, 1988; 

15 (D) otherwise meets the requirements of 

16 subparagraph (B)(i) of section 108(2) of the 

17 Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. App. 

18 1989b–7(2)(B)(i)); and 

19 (E) subject to section 4(f) of this Act, has 

20 not otherwise received payment under the Civil 

21 Liberties Act of 1988. 

22 (2) An individual who was an eligible individual 

23 under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 before the en24 actment of this Act and who was eligible for, but did 

25 not receive, payment under that Act prior to the ter-
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1 mination of the Civil Liberties Public Education 

2 Fund under section 104(d) of that Act. 

3 (3) An individual who—

4 (A) was born to an eligible individual 

5 under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 during 

6 the period beginning on January 20, 1945, and 

7 ending on February 29, 1948, at a place in 

8 which the eligible individual was confined, held 

9 in custody, relocated, or otherwise located dur10 ing the evacuation, relocation, or internment pe11 riod; and 

12 (B) was living on August 10, 1988. 

13 (4)(A) An individual of Japanese ancestry who, 

14 during the evacuation, relocation, or internment pe15 riod—

16 (i) was a United States citizen or a perma17 nent resident alien; 

18 (ii) whose employment with a railroad or 

19 mining company was terminated on account of 

20 the individual’s Japanese ancestry; and 

21 (iii) was living on August 10, 1988. 

22 (B) An individual who—

23 (i) during the evacuation, relocation, or in24 ternment period, was a dependent child of an 

25 individual described in subparagraph (A); and 
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1 (ii) was living on August 10, 1988. 

2 (5) An individual of Japanese ancestry who—

3 (A) meets the requirements of paragraph 

4 (2) of section 108(2) of the Civil Liberties Act 

5 of 1988, other than subparagraph (A) of that 

6 paragraph; and 

7 (B) was legally in the United States during 

8 the evacuation, relocation, or internment period 

9 but was made ineligible for United States citi10 zenship or permanent residence status by law 

11 enacted prior thereto, on account of the individ12 ual’s Japanese ancestry. 

13 (b) PRISONER EXCHANGES.—An individual shall not 

14 be precluded from being an eligible individual under sub15 section (a) if that individual was sent by the United States 

16 to Japan or territories occupied by Japan at any time dur17 ing the period beginning on December 7, 1941, and ending 

18 on September 2, 1945, in exchange for prisoners held by 

19 Japan. 

20 SEC. 3. APOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

21 The United States apologizes to those individuals de22 scribed in section 2(a) for the fundamental violations of 

23 their basic civil liberties and constitutional rights com24 mitted during the evacuation, relocation, or internment 

25 period. The President should transmit to each such indi-
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1 vidual a personal letter of apology on behalf of the United 

2 States. 

3 SEC. 4. PROCEDURES. 

4 (a) APPLICABILITY OF PROVISIONS OF THE CIVIL

5 LIBERTIES ACT.—Except as otherwise provided in this 

6 section, the provisions of section 105 of the Civil Liberties 

7 Act of 1988 shall apply with respect to eligible individuals 

8 under section 2 of this Act. 

9 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ATTORNEY GEN10 ERAL.—The Attorney General shall have the responsibility 

11 to identify and locate, without requiring any application 

12 for payment and using records already in possession of 

13 the United States Government, eligible individuals under 

14 section 2, within 12 months after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act. Failure to be identified and located with16 in that 12-month period shall not preclude an eligible indi17 vidual under section 2 from receiving payment under the 

18 Civil Liberties Act of 1988. 

19 (c) NOTIFICATION BY ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—Any 

20 eligible individual under section 2 may notify the Attorney 

21 General that the individual is an eligible individual, and 

22 may provide documentation therefor, within 6 years after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

24 (d) DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—The Attor25 ney General shall make a final determination of eligibility 
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1 of individuals under section 2 not later than 1 year after 

2 locating the individual pursuant to subsection (b) or re3 ceiving notification from an individual pursuant to sub4 section (c), as the case may be. 

5 (e) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—An individual seeking pay6 ment of compensation under the Civil Liberties Act of 

7 1988 as an eligible individual under section 2 may seek 

8 judicial review of a denial of compensation in an appro9 priate district court of the United States or the United 

10 States Court of Federal Claims within 6 years after the 

11 date of the denial. 

12 (f) PAYMENTS FROM COURT CASES.—Notwith13 standing section 2(a)(1)(E) of this Act and paragraph (7) 

14 of section 105(a) of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, an 

15 individual described in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of 

16 section 2(a)(1) of this Act, or any surviving spouse, child, 

17 or parent of such individual to whom section 105(a)(8) 

18 of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 applies, who has accept19 ed payment, before the enactment of this Act, pursuant 

20 to an award of a final judgment or a settlement on a claim 

21 against the United States for acts described in section 

22 108(2)(B) of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 or section 

23 2(a)(1)(B) of this Act, may receive payment under the 

24 Civil Liberties Act of 1988, except that any amount pay25 able to such individual, spouse, child, or parent under sec-
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1 tion 105(a)(1) of that Act shall be reduced by the amount 

2 of any payment received pursuant to such final judgment 

3 or settlement. 

4 SEC. 5. CORRECTION OF IMMIGRATION STATUS. 

5 Those individuals described in paragraph (1) of sec6 tion 2(a) shall not be considered to have been present in 

7 the United States unlawfully during the evacuation, relo8 cation, or internment period. Each department or agency 

9 of the United States shall take the necessary steps to cor10 rect any records over which that department or agency 

11 has jurisdiction that indicate that such individuals were 

12 in the United States unlawfully during such period. 

13 SEC. 6. FULL DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION. 

14 (a) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.—The 

15 appropriate departments and agencies of the United 

16 States shall disclose to the public all information (other 

17 than information which may not be disclosed under other 

18 provisions of law) relating to the forcible removal of indi19 viduals from Central and South America during the evacu20 ation, relocation, or internment period and the internment 

21 of those individuals in the United States during that pe22 riod, including information on individuals whose location 

23 is unknown. 

24 (b) SHARING OF INFORMATION WITH OTHER COUN25 TRIES.—The President shall take the necessary steps to 
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1 share information described in subsection (a) with other 

2 countries and encourage those countries to make that in3 formation available to people in those countries. 

4 SEC. 7. TRUST FUND. 

5 (a) REESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—The Civil Lib6 erties Public Education Fund (in this Act referred to as 

7 the ‘‘Fund’’) is reestablished in the Treasury of the United 

8 States, and shall be administered by the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury. 

10 (b) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS IN THE FUND.—

11 Amounts in the Fund shall be invested in accordance with 

12 section 9702 of title 31, United States Code. 

13 (c) USES OF THE FUND.—Amounts in the Fund shall 

14 be available only—

15 (1) for disbursement of payments by the Attor16 ney General, under section 105 of the Civil Liberties 

17 Act of 1988 and this Act, to eligible individuals 

18 under section 2 of this Act; and 

19 (2) for disbursement by the Board of Directors 

20 of the Fund under section 8 of this Act. 

21 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund—

23 (1) such sums as may be necessary to carry out 

24 paragraph (1) of subsection (b); and 
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1 (2) $45,000,000 for disbursements by the 

2 Board of Directors of the Fund under section 8. 

3 SEC. 8. BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE FUND. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Civil 

5 Liberties Public Education Fund Board of Directors, 

6 which shall be responsible for making disbursements from 

7 the Fund in the manner provided in this section. 

8 (b) USES OF THE FUND.—The Board may make dis9 bursements from the Fund only—

10 (1) to sponsor research and public education ac11 tivities so that events surrounding the evacuation, 

12 relocation, and internment of individuals of Japa13 nese ancestry will be remembered, and so that the 

14 causes and circumstances of this and similar events 

15 may be illuminated and understood; and 

16 (2) for reasonable administrative expenses of 

17 the Board, including compensation and expenses of 

18 the members and staff of the Board and payment 

19 for administrative support services. 

20 (c) MEMBERSHIP, STAFF, ETC.—The provisions of 

21 subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) of section 106 of the 

22 Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. App. 1989b–5 (c), 

23 (d), (e), (f), and (g)) shall apply to the Board of the Fund 

24 to the same extent as they applied to the Board estab25 lished under that section. 
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1 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act, the terms ‘‘evacuation, relocation, or in3 ternment period’’ and ‘‘permanent resident alien’’ have the 

4 meanings given those terms in section 108 of the Civil Lib5 erties Act of 1988 (50 U.S.C. App. 1989b–7).

Æ