The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1944-04-17

advanced however that this evacuation. however JUS
titled inevitably entaied ndiscriminate detention
LOT the in violation of their constitutional
rights
The second case known the Endo case, involv-
ing an application for writ of habeas corpus now
before the Ninth Circuit Court directly one
phase of the detention of Japanese Americans IN war
Relocation Centers. Once they had been evacuated
from the West Coast, it became necessary OF course
to provide places where thes uprooted people could
live They were deprived both of their homes and OF
their livelihoods. number of States refused to
admit them There was danger of public disorder If
any large numbers Of them attempted to settle In
hostile communities The Government properly furn-
ished them food and shelter and protection But 1t
also Obliged them to live less as prisoners,
inside barbed wire enclosures-and this in the absence
of any charge against them any conviction before
court of law.
Under the War Relocation Authority, procedures
we're set up st the loyal from the dsloyal and to
release in orderly fashion those whose loyalty to
the United States could be established beyond ques
ton. This task has by been nearly completed.
Only few thousand are still to be classified About
II 900 persons Cwothirds of them American citizens
have been sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Center
on the ground that they are "dsloyal' About 10000
have been released and sent to communities where
their acceptance assured and where they could
take up jobs useful to the effort; WRA is entirely
satisfied to their loyalty. The agency is equally
satisfied the loyalty of additional 1000 persons
in camps other than Tule Lake to whom leave clear
ance has been granted but who have not yet been
released either because they do not wish to leave
OF because suitable location and employment have
not yet been found for them
In this last category is 22-year-old American
born girl Mitsuye Endo for whom the writ of habeas
corpus has been sought The issue in her case is
whether it is valid for the Government to confine
persons not suspected any crime of any intention
to harm the United States. The Government itself
apparently grave doubts to its right to confne
brief that In view of the Importance OF the issue
the unprecedented character of this exercise of the
war power and the fact that it is not entirely clear
that such detention is authorized or constitutional
the Government will not merely state the arguments
indicating the validity of this detention, but will
attempt explore thoroughly the relevant considera-
lions of fact and law " The brief is tribute to the
Justice Departments regard for civil liberties in
time.
1t should be noted that this will not test the
validity of OBTAINING the dsoya japanese Americans
in Tule Lake For our part, have grave doubts
even as to the detention of these people Their dis
loyalty been adminisratively determined without
judicial trial-a most dangerous precedent in these
times when certain members of Congress are prone
hrl charges of disoyalty with great reckessness
AS to the loyal citizens of Japanese ancestry we feel
that they helpless victims of the war, entitled to
the utmost consideration of their Government Having
removed. these people from their homes, have
responsibility toward thema responsibility to protect
and to rehabilitate them They are, and should be
considered, war refugees. And the camps in which
they live should be, not places of detention, but
temporary shelters for their use on wholly volun-
tary basis This is what they will become if Mitsuye
Endo wins her suit