About two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that authorized the establishment of “military areas”. The order stated that all persons could be excluded from these areas and its purpose and effect was to declare that all persons of Japanese descent were excluded from the west coast. This was the birth of the infamous Japanese interment camps, which eventually housed as many as 120,000 persons, most of which were American citizens.
This map shows the location of the camps and the exclusion zone, which includes the entire state of California.
During the early part of World War II, the United States Supreme Court artfully avoided ruling on the issue of American citizens being imprisoned without lawful and customary due processes. It was not until December 1944 that the Court finally ruled that it was constitutional to relocate people for military reasons, but not legal to put them into prisons or detain them without cause.
Even with this ruling, most of the internment camps were not closed until the end of 1945 and the last was not closed until March of 1946, more than six months after the Japanese surrender.
This program was always controversial and in the subsequent decades, America continued to struggle with this moral dilemma. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s a younger generation of Japanese Americans began to demand an official apology from the Government. Their first success occurred in 1976 when President Gerald Ford stated that the internment was “wrong, a national mistake and shall never again never be repeated.”
In 1988 President Reagan signed into law a bill, which provided $1.2 billion or $20,000 for each surviving detainee. An additional $400 million was provided in 1992 and by 1998 $1.6 billion had been distributed to over 80,000 people.
On December 7, 1991 on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, President George H. W. Bush proclaimed:
“In remembering, it is important to come to grips with the past. No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and disgraces of its past. We in the United States acknowledge such an injustice in our history. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was a great injustice, and it will never be repeated.”
A prosperous, civilized and educated people strive to learn from their mistakes, acknowledge those mistakes and institute the necessary laws, policies etc.… to insure those mistakes are not repeated. What was in the moment viewed as an imminent and dangerous threat became, with the passage of time and the calming of wartime emotions to be recognized as a serious violation of existing laws and an abandonment of American values.
We now find ourselves again in the midst of another manufactured moral crisis. Despite his bogus claims to the contrary, this crisis was created solely by the action and beliefs of our President and have resulted in worldwide condemnation.
On April 6, 2018 Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Session III released a statement declaring the situation on our southwest border had become a full-blown crisis, demanding immediate and strong action on the part of the Government to effectively deal with this imminent threat!
…“To those who wish to challenge the Trump Administration’s commitment to public safety, national security, and the rule of law, I warn you: illegally entering this country will not be rewarded, but will instead be met with the full prosecutorial powers of the Department of Justice….”
This became known as the Zero Tolerance policy on illegal immigration along the southwest border. Its primary purpose was to discourage those that would enter our country illegally to rethink their strategy and perhaps select the legal path instead. But as the typical summer time increase in the flow continued unabated, the policy needed to be reinforced and on May 7, J. B. Sessions clarified the Administration position.
…”If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple, If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border…”
“Its that simple.”
This administration could not be clearer about its intentions in instituting this policy. Despite their wild gyrations since the public outcry began they cannot hide their xenophobia and their willingness to use children as pawns to achieve their political objectives. 45 made very clear his thoughts on Latino immigration with this tweet on May 19:
“Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!”
Key word: Infest.
His ability and sincere desire to unite our country with the most cordial of dialogue is truly inspiring. (creeping sarcasm again)
We know we cannot expect better from this President, but what really disturbs me is the way his apologists try to spin this disgusting policy. Here are some snippets from Fox News. Bold is mine.
Laura Ingraham:
“More kids are being separated from their parents and temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps… The American people are footing a really big bill for what is tantamount to a slow-rolling invasion of the United States.”
Tucker Carlson:
“You think any of these people really care about family separation? … No matter what they tell you, this is not about helping children, their goal is to change your country forever — and they are succeeding, by the way. They care far more about foreigners than about their own people,”
Ann Coulter coaching 45 on Fox News not to:
“Fall for these child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now.”
Are these the same child actors that Fox claimed were at Parkland? This level of vitriol borders on stupidity.
Immigration is, in the best of times a very complex issue, especially in a free and welcoming country like the United States. Since 1492 this land had been a beacon and people have been clawing their way here for over 500 years.
America is as much an idea as it is a place. And while I am in no way sophisticated enough to know how to solve our immigration issues, I do know that separating children from their parents is wrong. It cannot be refined, it cannot be excused and it can do nothing but tarnish the idea that is America.
No matter what the talking heads on Fox say or how much hate our President spews at his political opponents, separating children from their children is not the answer to this problem.
In my last post I had a list of things we now know about 45. Please allow me to add one more:
Our President is bonehead!