At the outset of World War II, the US government hastily constructed vast camps across the country to incarcerate, without any due process, more than 125,000 U.S. citizens and aliens of Japanese descent. In 1988, Congress passed a law signed by Ronald Reagan that apologized for the unwarranted hardship, trauma and unjust violation of rights endured by the Japanese Americans sent to those camps. Alarmingly, it appears that our government may be embarking on a mass incarceration plan that we might also deeply regret one day.
The Department of Homeland Security’s emerging plan to confine thousands of detained individuals and families in immense warehouse facilities never intended for human habitation risks creating awful suffering and lifelong trauma for thousands of persons, including elderly and disabled persons, law-abiding immigrants, and children whose only crime is having undocumented parents.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation was formed to remember and teach others of the unwarranted hardships, injury and loss endured by the 14,000 Japanese Americans confined at Heart Mountain during the war. Our goal is to help prevent such a thing from happening to any group ever again. We believe that even more strongly today.
That’s why we have restored multiple sections of the former camp to present that history to visitors to our site and to those who attend our presentations around the country. We have written books, produced animated films and conducted educator workshops to ensure that more people know this vital history.
Senator Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, one of our guiding lights, believed the correct way to deal with the issue of illegal immigration was through legislation. That’s why he led the passage of a critical immigration reform law in 1986. That law was passed by working with members of both parties to address a serious issue. Congress and the current administration would be well advised to examine that example.
Photo: Heart Mountain incarcerees collect coal from a train.
Credit: National Archives