H. Res. 1357 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
July 31, 2008. 
Whereas President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Execu-
tive 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 con-
finement 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 sabo-
tage 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Whereas President Gerald Ford formally rescinded Executive 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 promul-
gation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by mili-
tary necessity and that the decision to issue the order 
was shaped by ‘‘race prejudice, war hysteria, and a fail-
ure 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 Govern-
ment 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 trav-
el and personal property rights; 
Whereas during World War II, the United States Govern-
ment arrested, interned, or otherwise detained thousands 
of European Americans, some remaining in custody for 
years after cessation of World War II hostilities, and re-
patriated, exchanged, or deported European Americans, 
including American-born children, to European Axis na-
tions, 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 ‘‘fun-
damental 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 lib-
erties 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 com-
mitment 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 govern-
mental 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 em-
bodied 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.