Jim Costa: “Today, I rise to speak also about Executive Order 9066, which was issued 75 years ago--75 years ago--by President…”

“Today, I rise to speak also about Executive Order 9066, which was issued 75 years ago--75 years ago--by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The order authorized the evacuation and relocation of all persons deemed to be a threat to national security. What it did, however, was lead to one of the most shameful times in American history, and that was the internment of Japanese Americans. These were American citizens. From 1942 until 1945, the U.S. Government detained over 120,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry and of resident immigrants forcing them to live in internment camps, taking them away from their homes, their farms, and their businesses, many in California, in the San Joaquin Valley. As American citizens, the internment denied them their constitutional right of due process. These were U.S. citizens who were robbed of their rights and their freedoms. Yet, some of these Japanese Americans, while their families were forced to live in internment camps, never forgot their patriotism. Many served in our Nation's military in World War II in the European theater. The 442nd Infantry Regiment Combat Team was made up of Japanese-American soldiers. {time} 1030 The 442nd is the U.S. Army's most decorated infantry regiment ever. We must remember this time in American history and not repeat it. We had three assembly centers in the San Joaquin Valley under Executive Order No.…”