Even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government began targeting Japanese-American businessmen and placing them under arrest. Following Pearl Harbor, the efforts expanded beyond businessmen and targeted the whole of the Japanese community. Executive Order 9066 "set into motion the exclusion from certain areas, and the evacuation and mass incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens." (Children of the Camps). The conditions faced by these people absolutely contravened the principles of liberty that underlined American participation in the war; they were incarcerated without due process, lost their jobs, had to leave their homes, had inadequate medical care, and were surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, despite the fact that there was no evidence to suggest than even a single Japanese-American was aiding Japan in the war effort. (Children of the...
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