--- title: I Was Imprisoned in a U.S. Internment Camp description: It is one of the most shameful periods of U.S. history: Japanese internment. canonical: https://time.com/4579182/japanese-internment-bigotry/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-21T21:05:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:49.230Z article:section: Ideas og:title: I Was Imprisoned in a U.S. Internment Camp. Bigotry Put Me There. og:description: 'Fear and bigotry won’t make the U.S. safer' og:url: https://time.com/4579182/japanese-internment-bigotry/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4f87099eb078bb/6988af4f428a9ee5decd5141/norman-y-mineta.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Norman Mineta og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: I Was Imprisoned in a U.S. Internment Camp. Bigotry Put Me There. twitter:description: 'Fear and bigotry won’t make the U.S. safer' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e4f87099eb078bb/6988af4f428a9ee5decd5141/norman-y-mineta.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # I Was Imprisoned in a U.S. Internment Camp. Bigotry Put Me There. > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a275ae0b-a3fc-492c-80ff-e24202fc81af&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump and The Precedent of Japanese Internment Camps [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump and The Precedent of Japanese Internment Camps](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mjvDOQen.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2016-11-21. Pro-Trump advocate Carl Higbie drew a shocked reaction from host Fox News host Megyn Kelly during a discussion of the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump might support making Muslim immigrants to the U.S. “register.”_ by [Norman Y. Mineta](https://time.com/author/norman-y-mineta/) and [Ann Burroughs](https://time.com/author/ann-burroughs/) Nov 21, 2016 9:05 PM UTC  Norman Y. Mineta, Transportation Secretary under the George W. Bush Administration, delivering a speech in Baltimore on March 29, 2006. Norman Y. Mineta, Transportation Secretary under the George W. Bush Administration, delivering a speech in Baltimore on March 29, 2006. Chris Gardner—AP by [Norman Y. Mineta](https://time.com/author/norman-y-mineta/) and [Ann Burroughs](https://time.com/author/ann-burroughs/) Nov 21, 2016 9:05 PM UTC It is one of the most shameful periods of U.S. history. A nation brought low by a shocking act of war and caught up in hateful hysteria brought its weight to bear on innocent people. Tens of thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry were taken from their homes, their businesses and their lives and subjected to mass [imprisonment](http://time.com/4578616/japanese-internment-debate/) on American soil during World War II. This disgraceful exercise in racial profiling left a deep scar on the country’s legacy. In the decades that have passed, Americans said that it would never happen again. We would never let hatred and fear blind us to our shared humanity. We prided ourselves on having evolved beyond such impulses that would make us discriminate against an entire population based on where they came from, how they looked or how they prayed. To our great sadness, we are seeing these chilling ideas creeping back into normal discourse around the world. We saw it with the [Brexit](http://time.com/4554738/donald-trump-brexit-ashcroft/) vote in the U.K. We have seen it in Hungary and the Philippines, and any number of places whose people thought “It can’t happen here.” And now we are seeing it in the United States. President-elect Donald Trump exploited xenophobic anxiety throughout his campaign. He has spoken often of blocking Syrian refugees’ resettlement here, banning Muslims from entering our country and building a wall at our southern border—proposals and campaign pledges that promised to punish people based on race and religion. And now there are very real fears that this rhetoric might become reality. Most recently, the [reports](http://time.com/4574732/donald-trump-japanese-internment-muslim-registry/?iid=sr-link2) that his transition team is considering proposals to establish a registry for immigrants from countries with primarily Muslim populations have thrown this country’s shameful past into fierce relief. We are already beginning to reap the seeds of hatred that Trump’s rhetoric has sown. Reports of hate-driven [actions and threats](http://time.com/4574504/the-u-s-continues-to-come-apart-in-the-wake-of-a-divisive-election/) across the country are not a coincidence—they are further proof that Trump has emboldened bigotry in the U.S. in the same way that Japanese Americans were stripped of their civil rights in plain sight. We must aggressively act to keep this from happening again. The rich ethnic and cultural diversity of the people of the U.S. should be celebrated and appreciated. As he selects his cabinet and takes the oath of office, Trump must reconsider what he has said and be a leader who supports equality and liberty for all. Fear and bigotry won’t make the U.S. safer, and we must resist any calls to enact policies that would enshrine either in U.S. law and practice. We cannot forget what happens when our leaders disregard their human rights obligations and act without conscience. If we do, we are truly lost. This is the time when we must appeal to the good in humanity to create a more just nation that treats all Americans with the dignity they deserve. We must ensure that the most tragic civil rights chapters in our history remain where they belong—in history books and museums as part of our past, and not as part of our future. ## Transcript The hateful ideology of radicalism supports illegal's children. I'm just saying there is precedent for it and I'm not saying I agree with it but in this case I absolutely believe that a regional based- You can't be citing Japanese interment camps as precedent for anything the president- elect is gonna do. Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, many Americans feared a sabotage effort taking place within Japanese American communities on the West Coast. A state of war has existed between the United States And the Japanese Empire. That inspired President Roosevelt's executive order which authorized the government to designate " military areas" from which any or all persons may be excluded. Seattle's Japanese are packed, and ready. Awaiting Uncle Sam's orders. More then 100 thousand people of Japanese decent were evacuated to ten internment camps in the western United States. Most were American citizens. Uncle Sam is just taking no chances. In 1944 Fred Korematsu, a man who was convicted for resisting evacuation, brought his case to the Supreme Court. The court ruled that his convictions stood and that the exclusion order was constitutional, citing the extraordinary circumstances of war. Decades later, it was revealed that the government knew Japanese Americans posed no serious threat at this time. Mr. Korematsu was cleared by a lower court. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] A government commission that investigated the internment camps declared that the case, quote, lies overruled in the court of history. [ MUSIC ] Technically, the original Supreme Court precedent still stands. But the internment of Japanese Americans is seen as a disgraceful moment in the country's past. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4579182/japanese-internment-bigotry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4579182/japanese-internment-bigotry/"},"headline":"I Was Imprisoned in a U.S. Internment Camp. 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