Fact Check: The U.S. government forcibly interned over 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

Fact Check: The U.S. Government Forcibly Interned Over 125,000 Japanese Americans During World War II

What We Know

During World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. government initiated a policy of forcibly relocating and internment of Japanese Americans. This culminated in the issuance of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. The order allowed military commanders to designate "military areas" from which any persons could be excluded. Although the order did not specify Japanese Americans, it was primarily used to justify the removal of individuals of Japanese descent from the West Coast.

Approximately 120,000 to 125,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry were forcibly interned in camps across the United States. This included both American citizens and non-citizens, with nearly 70,000 being U.S. citizens. The internment process began with the issuance of Public Proclamation No. 4 by Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, which mandated the evacuation of Japanese Americans from designated areas on short notice. By the end of the war, about 125,284 Japanese Americans had been interned, with many families losing their homes, businesses, and personal belongings.

Analysis

The claim that the U.S. government forcibly interned over 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II is supported by multiple credible sources. The National Archives documents confirm that over 120,000 individuals were detained, and the Library of Congress corroborates that by the war's end, the number reached approximately 125,000. These figures are consistent across various historical accounts and government records.

The sources used are reliable, as they come from established institutions such as the National Archives and the Library of Congress, which maintain extensive records on this historical event. Additionally, the Ireichō, a comprehensive list of names of those interned, further validates the claim by providing a documented account of the individuals affected.

Critically, the internment of Japanese Americans has been widely recognized as a violation of civil liberties, with no evidence of disloyalty among the majority of those interned. The decision to intern was largely driven by wartime hysteria and racial prejudice rather than any substantiated threat posed by Japanese Americans.

Conclusion

Verdict: True
The claim that the U.S. government forcibly interned over 125,000 Japanese Americans during World War II is accurate. Historical records and credible sources confirm that approximately 120,000 to 125,000 individuals of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. This action was a significant infringement on civil liberties, justified by unfounded fears during a time of war.

Sources

1. Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II
2. World War II Japanese American Incarceration: Mass Removal ...
3. Behind the Wire | Japanese | Immigration and Relocation ...
4. Japanese Americans were forcibly imprisoned in camps ...
5. Internment of Japanese Americans
6. A project collects the names of those held at Japanese ...
7. The Return of Japanese Americans to the West Coast in ...
8. List of all 125,000-plus WWII Japanese American internment ...