JACL Action Alert: San Bruno and Chicago NARA Closures
RE: CHICAGO AREA ARCHIVISTS ACTION UPDATE August 25, 2026
ALERT! ACTION ITEM: PREVENT CHICAGO NARA CLOSURE
CAA reports that the National Archives at Chicago houses more than 140,000 cubic feet of irreplaceable permanent records from 85 federal agencies across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The collection documents the entire history of the Great Lakes region and its people—from records of momentous and historically significant events to routine paperwork that some citizens need to access in order to prove citizenship, obtain Medicare, receive other government benefits, and beyond.
NARA has made no public statement regarding the closures, provided little information about where the documents will go and given no plans for keeping the mostly un-digitized documents available to the public. The stealth nature of NARA’s action coupled with the lack of a transparent plan is a cause for alarm. Chicago Area Archivists (CAA) encourages our community members, as well as the public, to hold them accountable.
All JACL Districts, Chapter boards, and members who have a connection to the area served by the NARA-Chicago are requested to respond
● TAKE ACTION TO PREVENT CHICAGO NARA CLOSURES
RE: SONA ACTION UPDATE August 21, 2026
ALERT! ACTION ITEM: Vimeo from Mon 8/24 Press Conference at NARA-SF
Congressman Kevin Mullin (CA-17), home to the National Archives at San Francisco) and his colleagues will be holding a press conference NEXT Monday, August 24 at 10 AM, outside the archives facility, located in the Leo J. Ryan Memorial Federal Building (1000 Commodore Drive, San Bruno, about a 15-minute walk from the San Bruno BART station). He will announce actions to stop the closure of NARA-SF. (See Press Release)
SONA will be there, and we are asking as many supporters as possible to attend the press conference and for organizations to bring their banners to show their support. With our presence, we will call for decisive action to keep NARA-SF and NARA-Chicago open, and for historical records to remain available to the public!
RE: San Bruno and Chicago NARA Closures August 10, 2026
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:
Write letters to the interim Director of the National Archives, Ed Forst
Send via email to Director of NARA Ed Forst, Chief of Staff Corey Cooke, or Executive for External Affairs and Communications Grace McCafferty
See template for draft letter content
Write a letter to your U.S. congressional legislative representative and Email copies of your letters to Save OUR National Archives
Tools created by SONA and Chicago Area Archivists to craft your personal message.
fundNARA.com has instructions on additional action
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.
Support efforts to engage California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
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.
NARA Seattle Facility Reversal Plan Report
Support coordinated community efforts to document and preserve information at the San Bruno facility.
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.
Hold a Press conference
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)
###
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.
