JACL Statement on the 80th Anniversary of the Closure of Tule Lake

March 30, 2026

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Matthew Weisbly, Education Programs/Communications Manager, mweisbly@jacl.org

Seia Watanabe, VP of Public Affairs, swatanabe@jacl.org

JACL Policy Team, Matthew Marumoto & Katie Masano Hill

Email: policy@jacl.org

80 years ago, on March 20th, the Tule Lake Segregation Center, the last War Relocation Authority (WRA) camp, came to a close. This closure marked the end of the WRA’s mass incarceration camps that imprisoned more than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Despite the war in the Pacific Theater coming to a close in September of 1945, Tule Lake would remain open and continue to imprison people for an additional seven months.  Of all of the WRA camps, Tule Lake would be open for the longest period of time and imprison the most people. Holding a peak population of 18,789 prisoners, Tule Lake embodies the many abuses of power, losses of civil rights and liberties, and human suffering that our community and ancestors experienced during the Second World War. The people confined within Tule Lake faced ever-changing and uniquely brutal circumstances that are important to remember and reckon with if we are to truly learn from the totality of what the Japanese American community faced in the 1940s.  

Originally opened on May 27th, 1942, as a WRA facility, Tule Lake would later be transformed into a segregation center following the issuance of the infamous Loyalty Questionnaire, which the government used to punish those deemed “disloyal” to the United States. Despite the complexity of determining who is “loyal” during a time of war, the United States government boiled this determination down to two vague, poorly worded, and confusing questions:  

Question 27: Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?

Question 28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any and all attacks by foreign and domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?

The immediate consequences of the Loyalty Questionnaire were severe. Individuals who answered “No-No” or refused to comply were labeled as “disloyal” and sent to Tule Lake, where they faced additional punishment, dangerously inadequate facilities, isolation, and stigma. These post-questionnaire policies and responses by the WRA created divisions that fractured communities, families, and even close relationships, some of which were never fully repaired.

In addition to imprisoning those who were falsely deemed “disloyal”, Tule Lake became the center of one of the most extreme violations of citizenship rights in United States history. Under Public Law 78-405, more commonly known as the Denaturalization Act of 1944,  the federal government enabled the stripping of citizenship from its own citizens. Between December 1944 and the early months of 1945, 5,589 Nisei renounced their United States citizenship. Of that number, 5,461 were incarcerated at Tule Lake, and their reasons for renouncing were complex, including protest of the government’s injustice, the context of government disinformation and an absence of trusted sources of information, combined with anxiety over their future in America. Adding to the complexity and cruelty under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), the United States could now treat citizens who renounced their citizenship as enemy aliens. In doing so, many renunciants were sent to Department of Justice (DOJ) or Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) internment and detention sites throughout the country, including Santa Fe, New Mexico, Crystal City, Texas, and Fort Lincoln, in Bismarck, North Dakota.  For some individuals, the consequences were even more severe, with thousands who had renounced their citizenship being subject to deportation to Japan, a country that, for many, was unfamiliar or entirely unknown to them.  

The question of what it means to be loyal to the United States, and even what it means to be an American or what American ideals truly are, has continued to haunt the Japanese American community. In no small part, the Japanese American Citizens League and its leaders played a significant role in dictating the community's own interpretations of these ideas. From its founding, the JACL has adopted and promoted the ideals of assimilation as a means of protecting the community and advancing its collective goals. While they did provide a false sense of security for a growing immigrant community, holding these assimilationist ideals exacted a steep cost. As documented in the 1990 “Lim Report”, a report that the JACL National Council commissioned to study the actions of the organization during incarceration, it was found that JACL leadership played a critical role in cooperating with the WRA and perpetuating negative attitudes towards those deemed “No-No”, including directly leading the charge against those who resisted and protested. Despite the thoroughness of this investigation, JACL has continued not to fully acknowledge the Lim Report, its findings, and the organization's overall role in fragmenting our community. 

In 2019, JACL adopted a resolution, “Relating to Recognition of and Apology to Tule Lake Resisters.” Specifically, this resolution acknowledged how those “taken from all ten WRA camps and imprisoned at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, had a right to protest and dissent, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and in keeping with the JACL Constitution”, and how the trauma and stigma of  “being branded as ’No-No’ persists to the present day.”

This resolution reminds us that healing is not achieved through bureaucracy or a single statement. True healing is an ongoing and everlasting process that involves community input, trauma-informed care, continued listening, and discussion. While it marked an important first step, it is important to recognize that for many Tule Lake survivors and their descendants, the Resolution included language that criticized and condemned dissent,  creating additional harm. Pain, anger, and rightful distrust remain.

As we mark the 80th anniversary of this date, we honor the survivors who continue to tell their story and whose memories demand that we do better. We remember those who suffered and those who lost their lives behind barbed wire due to violence, neglect, and mistreatment. Their experiences compel us not only to reflect but also to persist in the work of repair, ensuring that this history is told with honesty, care, and justice for all. To truly heal the community and honor all of those who suffered at the hands of the United States government and at the hands of the JACL, we must take the first steps of acknowledging the harm committed and reckoning with this history. There are many remaining questions that the JACL and the rest of the Japanese American community must continue to explore while we pursue a path toward healing: What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be loyal? How could one attempt to answer such questions of loyalty and service in the military while confined behind barbed wire? 

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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.