Closing of the CampsOn December 17, 1944, Major General Henry C. Pratt announced that in January of 1945, the government would officially begin to release the Japanese Americans from the World War II internment camps. Following their release, the exclusion order that restricted the Japanese from returning to the west coast was also terminated. By 1946, all the internment camps had been evacuated. The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was closed on June 30, 1946.
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Returning Home For many, life after the camps was just as hard living inside them. Most of the Japanese had sold much of their belongings before they were interned. Their life savings and homes were gone. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco had stated that in total, the Japanese Americans had lost $400 million. Eventually realizing that the internment camps had violated the constitution, The Civil Liberties Act was passed on August 10, 1988. The federal government apologized wrote an apology and $20,000 were given to each camp survivor (which was not very much, due to inflation).
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Act being signed by President Ronald Reagan.
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Connection to now
While the Japanese Internment Camps are left in the past, the concept of taking a whole ethnic or religious group and withdrawing there rights as Americans is not. Sadly, this sort of prejudice thinking is preventing America from advancing forward and accomplishing more. Today, thousands of Syrian immigrants and those from other Middle Eastern countries are fleeing their homes to seek asylum. Because extremist groups such as ISIS are using the Muslim religion to justify their actions, many innocent Muslims are now being discriminated against due to stereotyping. Many believe all Muslims should be banned from the country because of terrorist group actions.
"The unjust and egregious act of the incarceration of innocent Japanese Americans and immigrants who had done no wrong was definitely a huge mistake and should never be permitted to happen again to any other people. Japanese Americans want to share the history so that no one will ever have to suffer in that manner again."
-Floyd Mori, the President and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS)
-Floyd Mori, the President and CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS)