The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (, title I, August 10, 1988, , et seq.) is a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been wrongly interned by the United States government during World War II and to "discourage the occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in the future". The act was sponsored by California Democratic congressman and former internee Norman Mineta in the House and Hawaii Democratic senator Spark Matsunaga in the Senate. The bill was supported by the majority of Democrats in Congress, while the majority of Republicans voted against it. The act was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

The act granted each surviving internee $20,000 in compensation, equivalent to $ in , with payments beginning in 1990. The legislation stated that government actions had been based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership" as opposed to legitimate security reasons. A total of 82,219 received redress checks.

Because the law was restricted to American citizens and legal permanent residents, ethnic Japanese who had been taken from their homes in Latin America (mostly from Peru) were not granted reparations, regardless of whether they had remained in the United States, had returned to Latin America or had been deported to Japan after the war. In 1996, Carmen Mochizuki filed a class-action lawsuit and won a settlement of approximately $5,000 per eligible person. Of those affected, 145 received their settlement before funds were exhausted. In 1999, funds were approved for the attorney general to pay compensation to the remaining claimants.

Background

Internment of Japanese Americans

The internment of Japanese Americans was the forced removal and confinement of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans (62% of whom were United States citizens) from the West Coast of the United States during World War II. Some 5,500 Japanese American men arrested by the FBI immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor were sent directly to internment camps run by the Department of Justice, and approximately 5,000 were able to "voluntarily" relocate to other parts of the country before forced evacuations began. The remainder – over 110,000 men, women and children – were sent to "relocation centers", hastily constructed camps in remote portions of the nation's interior run by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion, removal, and detention, arguing that it is permissible to curtail the civil rights of a racial group when there is a "pressing public necessity."

Redress and reparations

Some compensation for property losses was paid in 1948, but most internees were unable to fully recover their losses.

Payments to surviving internees or their heirs continued until 1993, overseen by the Office of Redress Administration, one of two government agencies created to carry out the 1988 act's implementation.

Civil Liberties Act of 1988

right|thumb|200px|President Reagan signs the bill in an official ceremony. Left to right: Hawaii Sen. [[Spark Matsunaga, California Rep. Norman Mineta, Hawaii Rep. Pat Saiki, California Sen. Pete Wilson, Alaska Rep. Don Young, California Rep. Bob Matsui, California Rep. Bill Lowery, and JACL President Harry Kajihara.]]

thumb|right|200px|Video of event

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988, Restitution for World War II internment of Japanese-Americans and Aleuts, states that it is intended to:

Congressional support and opposition

On September 17, 1987, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill (which symbolically shared its number with that of the 442nd Infantry Regiment) by a vote of 243 to 141, with 38 members not voting. The majority of Democrats in the House voted for the bill (180 in favor vs. 43 opposed) while a majority of Republicans voted against it (63 in favor vs. 98 opposed).

On April 20, 1988, the U.S. Senate passed the bill by a vote of 69 to 27, with 4 members not voting. A large majority of Democrats voted for the bill (44 in favor vs. 7 opposed), while a more narrow majority of Senate Republicans also voted for the bill (25 in favor vs. 20 opposed).

See also

  • Day of Remembrance (Japanese Americans)
  • Go for Broke Monument
  • Grayce Uyehara
  • Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II
  • Japanese American National Library
  • Manzanar
  • Reparations (transitional justice)

References and notes

  • Campaign for Justice of Japanese Latin-Americans
  • Text