The victims—70,000 American citizens and 50,000 permanent residents—were detained without formal charges, and had no means of appeal.
In 1982 the Federal government openly acknowledged that the rationale of “military necessity” had been unfounded, and that the policy of internment arose from popular racism exacerbated by a failure of leadership. But 75 years later, the forced relocation and detention of civilians—presumed guilty based on the false assumption that ethnicity dictates national loyalty—remains a prescient warning when populist fear supplants reasoned evaluation in a time of crisis.