Donald Trump’s recent attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act has sparked much interest in the roundup and internment of Issei during WWII, the most recent use of this 1798 law. So here is a brief outline of what our Issei leaders experienced the last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked. - ThreadSky

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denshoproject.bsky.social • 9 days ago

Donald Trump’s recent attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act has sparked much interest in the roundup and internment of Issei during WWII, the most recent use of this 1798 law. So here is a brief outline of what our Issei leaders experienced the last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked.

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denshoproject.bsky.social•9 days ago

Various agencies had been investigating Japanese American communities for nearly a decade prior to WWII, leading to the creation of custodial detention lists of Issei—as well as immigrant Germans, Italians and other Europeans—to be picked up if and when war broke out.

denshoproject.bsky.social•9 days ago

Thus prepared, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under the auspices of the Alien Enemies Act, immediately issued a series of proclamations after the attack on Pearl Harbor, allowing for the apprehension of “alien enemies deemed dangerous to the public health or safety of the United States.”

denshoproject.bsky.social•9 days ago

The arrests began on December 7, and followed the basic pattern of the larger West Coast roundup that took place a few months later: initial detention in local facilities for a short period of time, followed by transfers to larger and more distant camps.

denshoproject.bsky.social•9 days ago

A group of internees at the Santa Fe, New Mexico internment camp. Courtesy of https://ManyMountains.org and R. Matsumoto.

denshoproject.bsky.social•9 days ago

In many cases, internees initially faced severe overcrowding, regimentation, and trigger-happy guards. Three Japanese Americans were shot to death by guards, one at Fort Sill and two at Lordsburg.

Read more about the experiences of these Issei internees: https://densho.org/catalyst/detention-under-the-alien-enemies-act-in-world-war-ii/

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