From the Concord [NH] Monitor
Let us not repeat a WWII travesty
'Alien enemies' suffered during time of crisis
Monday, October 1, 2001
By KAREN E. EBEL
For the Monitor
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Monitor editorial
Attorney General John Ashcroft's request for broader power to investigate,
detain and deport aliens deserves great scrutiny. We traveled a similar path
during World War II - with alarming results.
After Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt granted Attorney General
Francis Biddle plenary authority over 900,000 German, Japanese and Italian
"alien enemies" under the Alien Enemies Act. Stripped of their constitutional
rights, aliens were afforded little due process. The Department of Justice
established its own standards justifying indefinite internment, then acted
as prosecutor and judge. This unknown program is distinct from the removal
of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry to Wartime Relocation Authority camps.
All alien enemies were subject to travel and property ownership restrictions.
Some were even forced to abandon their homes and places of work.
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI raided thousands of homes seeking evidence against
suspected fifth columnists. Search warrants were secret or waived. Thousands
were arrested and detained indefinitely awaiting the Department of Justice's
final decision on their fate.
The U.S. attorney and the FBI appeared before appointed civilian hearing
boards to give evidence, mostly uncorroborated tips and innuendo. The accused
could present but two character witnesses and had no right to counsel or
to know the reason for detention. Hearing boards recommended release, parole
or internment.
In passing final judgment, the Department of Justice, which appointed the
hearing boards, often ignored more lenient recommendations, ordering internment
if it found a suspect "potentially dangerous to the public peace and safety
of the United States." No right of administrative appeal or judicial review
existed. On rare occasions, the department granted rehearings.
Similarly, the department now proposes indefinite alien detention upon its
certification of a potential security risk, with no right of judicial review.
More than 25,000 aliens were interned, including 11,000 Germans, 11,000 Japanese
and 3,300 Italians. These internees, including many American-born children
and spouses, languished in Immigration and Nationalization Service-administered
camps throughout the United States. Thousands were exchanged for Americans
in Germany.
Families were torn apart and homes lost. Resources that could have helped
win a war were wasted.
Internment should have ended in 1945, but Truman required hundreds of "potential
security risks" to remain interned years after the war. They had no means
of escape except deportation, until the courts finally ordered their release.
Internees and relocatees of Japanese ancestry were granted government redress
and an apology. As required by Congress, the Department of Justice is now
assessing our government's World War II violations of Italian American civil
liberties. The recently proposed Wartime Treatment of European Americans
and Refugees Study Act would create an independent commission to study the
World War II experience of persons of German and Italian ancestry to suggest
ways to protect civil liberties during national emergencies.
If heeded, the lessons of the past could offer much-needed guidance.
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(Karen E. Ebel lives in New London.)