JACL Remembers Executive Order 9066 under Shadow of False National Emergency Claims to Build Border Wall

February 15, 2019

For Immediate Release

David Inoue, Executive Director
dinoue@jacl.org, 202-223-1240

Sarah Baker, VP Public Affairs
sbaker@jacl.org

Washington, DC – Following Congressional passage of a spending bill that included significant spending for border security, the President has declared a national emergency to further expand the border wall. Even without the wall expansion, components of the border agreement give concern for the potential impact upon immigrant communities and the civil and privacy rights of citizens and non-citizens. With the President’s proclamation, JACL is especially concerned with the overreach of executive power and infringement upon constitutionally appointed Congressional duties.

On February 19th we will commemorate the 77th anniversary of the issuance of Executive Order 9066, which combined with another false security threat, paved the way for the incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. The Supreme Court upheld the incarceration, ignoring the rampant anti-Japanese racism, and giving full deference to the trumped up security threat justification in the cases of Hirabayashi, Korematsu, and Yasui. The court recently repeated this blind deference to national security in upholding the Muslim Ban. Now, the President is once again invoking a false national security threat as justification to build an unnecessary and costly border wall.

We cannot continue allowing to go unchecked executive action based upon false or misleading information and with underlying racism so clearly on display as it was 77 years ago.

In the coming week, JACL chapters and Japanese American communities across the country will be hosting Day of Remembrance events to memorialize the issuance of Executive Order 9066 and remind our nation of the constitutional dangers of unchecked executive orders issued falsely under the guise of national security.

For a listing of some of the events scheduled, please refer to the JACL website at https://jacl.org/events/day-of-remembrance/

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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.