Opinion ID: 463698
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion and Internment

Text: 2 In the wake of Pearl Harbor the United States immediately took steps to improve security on the West Coast. Initially, attention focused on the activities of Japanese nationals. See Proclamation No. 2525, 6 Fed.Reg. 6321 (1941). Internment of these enemy aliens began at once. These precautions, however, did not satisfy the Commanding General of the Western Defense Command, Lt. General John L. DeWitt. In his Final Recommendation of the Commanding General, Western Defense Command and Fourth Army, to the Secretary of War (Feb. 14, 1942) (Final Recommendation ), he urged the evacuation of all Japanese-American citizens from the Pacific coast. Joint Appendix (JA) 109-110. DeWitt reasoned: 3 The Japanese race is an enemy race and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become Americanized, the racial strains are undiluted   . There are indications that these [Japanese-Americans] are organized and ready for concerted action at a favorable opportunity. The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken. 4 Final Recommendation, JA 109. 5 On February 18, 1942 DeWitt received legal authority to carry out his policy of racial exclusion. On that date the President signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the Secretary of War or his designees to prescribe military areas from which any person could be excluded. 7 Fed.Reg. 1407, JA 112. 2 DeWitt designated California, western Oregon and Washington, and southern Arizona as military areas. In so doing, he declared that all persons of Japanese ancestry were to be excluded from these areas. At first, relocation proceeded on a voluntary basis. 3 When this proved inefficient, compulsion replaced exhortation. 6 The evacuees were given as little as forty-eight hours notice of their impending removal. They were allowed to bring only what they could carry. 4 In the assembly centers--racetracks and fairgrounds--the evacuees were placed in mass barracks housing 600 to 800 people. Beginning in May 1942 they were transferred to permanent relocation centers: camps surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by military police. They were housed one or two families to a tar-paper room. They ate and bathed in mass facilities. 7 The majority of the evacuees remained in these camps for the duration of the war. 5 According to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), 6 detention continued after military authorities concluded that there was no further military justification for the internment. 7 Motivated by a desire to capture Western votes in the 1944 election, President Roosevelt refused to take any drastic action. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON WARTIME RELOCATION AND INTERNMENT OF CIVILIANS, PERSONAL JUSTICE DENIED 229 (1982) (PERSONAL JUSTICE DENIED). Finally, on November 10, 1944 the cabinet decided to end the exclusion; the War Department publicly rescinded the exclusion order on December 17, 1944. Administrative delay, however, prolonged detention for many. It was not until March 1946 that the last camp closed.