From the passenger seat of a sky-blue Prius, Amy Oba watched the federal detention center closely during a community patrol formed by Japanese Americans. The group monitors immigration agents’ activities and accompanies vulnerable individuals in Los Angeles, expressing growing concern over recent federal enforcement operations.
“I definitely think about my family when we organize and patrol, because that could have been my family in prison,” said Oba, 33. “It’s just a difference of, what, 80 years?”
Her reflection recalls the mass internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, a trauma still present among descendants like her.
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Historical Parallels Raise Concern Among Japanese Americans
During the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt—supported by the Supreme Court—classified Japanese Americans as national security threats solely on the basis of ethnicity. Families were forced to abandon homes, businesses, and entire communities. Many never recovered their livelihoods. It was not until the Reagan administration that the U.S. government issued a formal apology and established a reparations program.
Today, as former President Donald Trump’s administration enforces stricter immigration actions, Japanese American communities identify troubling parallels with their historical experience. While the current federal focus targets undocumented Latino immigrants—distinct from the 1940s context, when most detainees were U.S. citizens—the scenes of uniformed agents loading people onto buses, mass detentions, and the use of dehumanizing language evoke collective memories of discrimination.
Organizations Strengthen Support Networks and Rapid Response Efforts
In response, Japanese American organizations across the country have expanded rapid-response networks, community monitoring, and coordination with human rights groups. Their efforts include documenting detentions, providing guidance to families, and building partnerships with local advocates.
Lisa Doi, a board member of the Chicago chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, noted that attendees of a recent event connecting community members with local rapid-response groups already sensed clear historical similarities. “People recognize patterns we hoped were behind us,” she said.
For many descendants of those who endured WWII incarceration, monitoring today’s immigration actions is not only an act of solidarity but a commitment to preserving historical memory and preventing the repetition of past injustices.
