Removal of over 112,000 Japanese, including both resident aliens and U.S. citizens, from the West Coast of the United States during the early stages of the U.S. involvement in World War II. Japanese on the U.S. West Coast were interned in concentration camps following the Japanese attack on the U.S. territory of Hawaii at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The United States declared war on Japan following the attack, and the U.S. government saw a possible threat from the Japanese population in the United States. To meet this threat, all Japanese were interned in U.S. camps for the duration of the war. More than 70,000 of these Japanese were American-born and were citizens of the United States. Their U.S. citizenship and the rights entitled to them did not exclude them from internment during wartime. Many families were left with only a female head of the household instead of the usual male because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested many male Japanese American leaders after the Pearl Harbor attack. There were fifteen assembly centers located in California, Washington State, Oregon, and Arizona. The Japanese internees remained at the assembly centers for up to 100 days before being sent to relocation centers managed by the Department of the Interior’s War Relocation Authority (WRA). Over 112,000 Japanese were distributed among 10 locations: 2 centers each in California, Arizona, and Arkansas and 1 each in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. In addition to the relocation centers, some suspect aliens of Japanese ancestry were sent to internment camps managed by the Department of Justice. There were four Department of Justice internment camps, located in New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Montana. These centers were prison camps for Japanese community leaders, Shinto priests, and teachers from Japanese-language schools. The Department of Justice internment camps housed both men and women. The Texas camp housed female Japanese noncitizens. There were also two citizen isolation camps in Utah and Arizona housing Japanese Americans who were regarded as troublemakers in the relocation centers. Starting in 1943, some of the Japanese internees were granted leave. Those who were not eligible for leave remained in the camps until the end of World War II.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that allowed the U.S. War Department to supervise the evacuation of the Japanese population from the West Coast. General John DeWitt of the War Department issued Public Proclamation I, which created military areas in California, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington. In these areas, enemy aliens, who included Japanese aliens and citizens of Japanese ancestry, were required to register with the U.S. government. At first, there was a voluntary program allowing Japanese to resettle outside of the military zones. This voluntary program was terminated after the War Department received complaints from the states where the Japanese resettled. On March 11, 1942, General DeWitt created the Wartime Civil Control Authority (WCCA), which took full control of the mass evacuation of Japanese from the West Coast. On March 18, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102 creating the WRA. The WRA assisted people who were evacuated by the military. Beginning in March 1942, fifteen assembly centers were established to process the Japanese evacuees. The U.S. government posted evacuation notices in Japanese American communities ordering Japanese families to report to the control centers. Each family received a number after registration. These families had only a few weeks to take care of their personal matters before evacuation. Many lost a great deal of their possessions. At the end of March 1942, the evacuation to assembly centers started. By August 7, 1942, the evacuation was completed.
Beginning August 10, 1942, Japanese evacuees were interned in relocation centers. The residents of the relocation centers were divided into three groups. The first group included the elderly and those born in Japan. Most of them came to the United States in the 1910s. The second group was composed of those who were born in the United States and had U.S. citizenship. This group was more pro-American. The third group included Japanese born in the United States but who had received some education in Japan. This group was more pro-Japan. Living quarters in the relocation centers resembled military housing. The camps were patrolled by armed guards and were surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. Each barrack was 20 feet by 100 to 120 feet with no interior walls. Wood and tarpaper were used to construct the barracks. Each barrack was partitioned into 4 to 6 rooms of approximately 500 square feet. One family was assigned to each room. A block contained 12 to 14 barracks. Each block had a mess hall, recreation hall, bathroom, shower, and laundry. The barracks themselves did not have cooking and plumbing facilities. The residents of the centers could participate in activities such as movies and baseball. The menus of all relocation centers were based on a ration cost that allowed no more than forty-five cents per person per day. The centers provided only basic elementary through high school education. Some died while they were interned: Some were shot trying to escape; some died of poor medical care and the trauma of incarceration.
On February 8, 1943, internees of all relocation centers could register to receive leave clearance. Only a small number of the internees, however, were actually eligible for release from the camps. Those released could not resettle on the West Coast. Those in the group labeled as disloyal to the United States were not eligible to leave the camps until after the war ended.
On December 17, 1944, the War Department revoked the West Coast mass exclusion orders against Americans with Japanese ancestry. On December 18, 1944, the WRA announced that it would close all relocation centers before the end of 1945, and its program would be terminated on June 30, 1946. In January 1945, the army lifted the West Coast ban prohibiting those Japanese released from the camps from resettling on the West Coast. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered and the war between the United States and Japan ended. On September 4, 1945, the Western Defense Command issued the Public Proclamation 24, which revoked all individual exclusion orders and military restrictions against persons of Japanese ancestry. On December 1, 1945, with the exception of the relocation center at Tule Lake, California, all Japanese relocation centers were closed. On February 23, 1946, the last group of Japanese repatriates left Tule Lake and sailed to Japan. On June 30, 1946, the United States government officially terminated the WRA. In 1988, President George H.W. Bush issued an apology to the Japanese Americans for the internment and offered $20,000 to each of the families of the interned.
