February 19 was the eighty-third anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin Roosevelt on that day in 1942. The order authorized the forcible removal and imprisonment of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast Exclusion Zone, two-thirds of whom were natural-born American citizens.
Many of those imprisoned went on to serve with distinction during World War II as part of the segregated, all-Japanese American, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd is the most highly decorated unit of its size in Unites States military history.
It was more than just persons of Japanese descent who were hurt by the exile and imprisonment. Vashon Island lost around 30 farms operated by members of its Japanese community. Labor and supply shortages were experienced up and down the west coast. The impact of this governmental action persisted for decades after the war.
Now, the United States is affected by the Trump administration’s pledges to deport undocumented and temporary workers. Those pledges include aggressive border enforcement, efforts to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, restricted asylum eligibility, deportation of families and children, and, if Trump has his way, the end of birthright citizenship.
Trump has even threatened to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which was used to justify the West Coast expulsion and imprisonment of Japanese during WWII. Our new border czar Tom Homan has promised to oversee “the largest deportation in U.S. history.”
We are only beginning to see what the breadth, depth, and impact these deportations will have, and some are skeptical of this administration’s ability to deliver on its promises of mass deportation.
But even if only a part of the deportation proposal comes true, many of us are concerned about the profound humanitarian, legal, economic, and social effects these proposed deportations will have. Even the politically conservative Cato Institute states that immigration is necessary to protect America from population decline, labor shortages, tax losses and a decline in technological innovation.
The imprisonment of Japanese American immigrants and natural-born citizens — not charged with crimes but solely based on race — during WWII was unjust and unconstitutional. Most Americans today agree that it should not have happened. These deportations being implemented by the Trump administration are creating conditions and actions which are leading us toward another sad chapter for civil rights in our country.
On February 23, from 2 to 4 p.m., Friends of Mukai will show filmmaker Frank Abe’s “Conscience and the Constitution,” which documents the story of 63 Japanese Americans who refused the draft while at the Heart Mountain concentration camp. It is a story of resistance that can help inform our thinking about the current discussion — about what should be done to protect human rights as America attempts to deal with its “immigration problem.”
For Japanese Americans and many others, the answer to unconstitutional incarceration and deportation is: “Never again.”
The film will be shown at Mukai Farm & Garden at 18017 107th SW, followed by a brief discussion. Please join us.
Rita Brogan is a co-president of Friends of Mukai. Bruce Haulman is a Vashon historian.
