JACL Action Alert: San Bruno and Chicago NARA Closures

‍ ‍BACKGROUND:

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has announced plans to close its San Bruno, California, and Chicago, Illinois, facilities within three years, with transfers potentially beginning as early as August 2026.

San Bruno holdings comprise 100,000 cubic feet of records, including Asian and Pacific immigration and naturalization materials; the original case file from United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 decision that helped establish birthright citizenship; Chinese Exclusion case files; German, Italian, and Japanese American World War II records; documents concerning the Tanforan Assembly Center incarceration; legal records related to the motion to vacate Fred Korematsu’s 1944 conviction; Japanese picture bride files; Alien Files containing visas, photographs, and family-history materials; records documenting Indigenous and Hawaiian communities; Mexican Land grant cases; and arrival case files for Russian Jews and other immigrants from throughout the world.

Chicago facility holds permanent records created by federal agencies and courts in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, including naturalization and genealogical records and Chinese Exclusion Act case files from Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Public access to historical records is under threat as demonstrated by the attempt to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences—the only federal agency dedicated to providing funding for the nation’s libraries—by executive order.

Emergency resolution of the National Council of the Japanese American Citizens League endorses a national advocacy campaign involving all JACL chapters to oppose the NARA closures by contacting Acting Archivist of the United States Edward Forster and JACL members’ elected representatives, with written correspondence copied to the Save Our National Archives (SONA) advocacy group.

Email from National JACL Executive Director sent August 10, 2026

CALL TO ACTION:

All JACL Districts, Chapter boards and members are requested to respond in one or more of the following ways:

1. Write letters to the interim Director of the National Archives, Ed Forst

   1. Send via email to Director of NARA Ed Forst, Chief of Staff Corey Cooke, or Executive for External Affairs and Communications Grace McCafferty

   2. See template for draft letter content

   3. Write a letter to your U.S. congressional legislative representative and Email copies of your letters to Save OUR National Archives

   4. Tools created by SONA and Chicago Area Archivists to craft your personal message.

   5. fundNARA.com has instructions on additional action

2. Share the JACL ER-1 resolution with your friends, family, and allies and ask them to write to their legislative representative.  We stress that public education is key.

3. Support efforts to engage California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

   1. A coalition of California community organizations is exploring whether the Attorney General can intervene based on precedent from a similar case in Washington State. JACL chapters and members can help build support for state-level action by contacting their California state legislators and encouraging them to urge AG Bonta to protect public access to the San Bruno records.

      1. NARA Seattle Facility Reversal Plan Report

4. Support coordinated community efforts to document and preserve information at the San Bruno facility.

   1. Community organizations are exploring opportunities to visit the site and digitize or otherwise document publicly accessible information before the facility closes or records are transferred. Additional guidance will be shared as this effort develops; members should not independently contact or visit the facility for this purpose without coordination.

5. Hold a Press conference

   1. LULAC - How to Organize a Press Conference

6. Sign onto Stop the Closure of Chicago NARA petition

RESOURCES:

●      Find your member of Congress

●      How to write to your congressman/woman - ACLU

●      Save OUR National Archives SONA for contact link

●      Society of American Archivists  SAA

●      How to hold an effective press conference toolkit

●      General Services Administration GSA

●      NARA policies (36 CFR Parts 1232, 1234, 1235, and 1256)

●      Office of Management and Budget Memo 19-21

Additional Questions or concerns:

Contact JACL Staff email

Content contributor(s):

Carol Kawase (VP of PA), Katie Masano Hill (JACL Policy Fellow), Matt Weisbly (JACL Communications Mgr), Matthew Marumoto (JACL Policy Fellow)

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The Japanese American Citizens League is a national organization whose ongoing mission is to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote cultural, educational, and social values and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American community.