Zoe Lofgren: “as has been mentioned, on February of 1942, then-President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order which authorized…”

“as has been mentioned, on February of 1942, then-President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order which authorized the Secretary of War to define military areas in which ``the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions'' are deemed ``necessary'' or ``desirable.'' By the spring of 1942, California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona were designated as military areas. And in May, Japanese Americans were ordered to ``close their affairs promptly and make their own arrangements for disposal of personal and real property.'' Official government fliers were posted around California instructing families to report to 12 assembly centers including the Tanforan Racetrack for San Francisco Japanese Americans to the Santa Anita Racetrack for Japanese Americans in the Santa Clara Valley. They could only bring the bare necessities, leaving behind homes, their lives, and most personal belongings. Santa Clara and San Francisco Japanese Americans were forced to live in horse stables for as long as 6 months until a permanent camp was built for them; 110,000 Japanese Americans were evacuated from their homes and incarcerated throughout the duration of the war. By the fall of 1942, most of the Santa Clara Valley Japanese American internees were transported to a camp far away from home, the Heart Mountain Internment Camp Wyoming; and the San Francisco internees were sent to various camps, some as far away as Utah.”