World War II Relocation Program

Though relocation programs have been part of many dealings between the federal government and Indians, the World War II relocation of Japanese, Germans, and Italians was the largest single such program in history and certainly the most significant of the 20th century. In September of 1936, with the approval of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began a five-year plan of clandestine surveillance of people who it considered posed a risk to American security. In 1939 and 1940, the U.S. government compiled lists of these dangerous enemy aliens and citizens under the auspices of the FBI, intelligence divisions of the Justice Department, and various military intelligence agencies. The 1940 census included information that was later used to locate persons based on their ethnicity. Also in 1940, the Alien Registration Act was passed, requiring all aliens 14 years of age and older to register with the federal government. In all, 1 of every 26 people in the country in 1940 was foreign born, and 4.9 million aliens were registered, including 695,000 Italians, 315,000 Germans, and only 91,000 Japanese.

In September of 1939, Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Emergency Detention Program. He also instructed the Justice Department to be prepared to arrest and detain those who might prove dangerous in the event of war. This came only months after the passage of the Hobbs Bill in May, which allowed for the detainment of suspicious foreigners. Even though the FBI had been working on its lists for years, Hoover then made the compilation of a list of dangerous aliens and citizens the top priority. All of the information gathered since 1936 by the various government intelligence agencies, civil and military, were compiled into the Custodial Detention Index (CDI).

On the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, based on the intelligence gathered into the CDI in 1939 and 1940, [Page 716]Roosevelt authorized Attorney General Francis Biddle to issue a blanket warrant to have large numbers of pre-designated “dangerous enemy aliens” arrested. Raids by the FBI had netted 737 Japanese Americans and hundreds of German and Italian aliens by the end of the day. War was not declared on Germany until four days later on December 11. The next day, Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527, branding German, Italian, and Japanese nationals as enemy aliens. These nearly identical proclamations authorized internment as well as travel and property ownership restrictions.

Pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 2525, 2526, 2527, and 2537, issued January 14, 1942, Attorney General Biddle ordered additional regulations requiring application for certificates of identification to all enemy aliens aged 14 and older while outlining restrictions on their movement and property rights. Approximately one million enemy aliens had to reregister in order to obtain the necessary identification cards that were then being issued to aliens. Applications were submitted to both the Department of Justice's Alien Registration Division and the FBI. Furthermore, it was necessary for enemy aliens to report any changes of address, employment, or name to the FBI.

The Justice Department worked with the military to create numerous prohibited zones that were strictly off-limits to enemy aliens. At this time, they also established large restricted areas in which enemy aliens were subject to stringent curfew and travel restrictions, particularly on the West Coast. Later, on February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the secretary of war to define military areas in which “the right of any person to enter, remain in or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions” are deemed necessary or desirable by the given military and civil authorities. This order applied to all aliens from Axis countries, and if they violated these or other applicable regulations, they were subject to internment for the remainder of the war. Two days after the signing of Executive Order 9066, 119 Japanese, 54 Italians, and 9 Germans were arrested in the state of California. Over the first several weeks of the war, a total of 1,540 Japanese Americans, 1,260 German Americans, and 231 Italian Americans were detained by the FBI. On March 18 the War Relocation Authority (WRA) was created by Executive Order number 9102 and Milton S. Eisenhower was named its first director.

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