Eileen Okada—who was five when imprisoned with her family in a Japanese incarceration camp—is one of many Japanese Americans concerned about the misuse of the citizenship question proposed by the Trump administration.
Earlier this year, against the recommendations of the Census Bureau, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross approved a request from the Justice Department to add the following question to the 2020 census: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”
This question was previously eliminated after the 1950 census . It has not been used in over 70 years, since it played a significant role in assisting the U.S. government to identify and expel Japanese Americans from their homes, and later force them to live behind barbed wire. Despite the government’s denial, records confirm that the Bureau provided the U.S. Secret Service with specific names and residential addresses of Japanese Americans.
According to WAMU, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John DeWitt, who oversaw and supported the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, wrote in a 1943 report for the War Department: “The most important single source of information prior to the evacuation was the 1940 Census of Population.”
Okada and her sisters, who go by the maiden name of Sakamoto, only recently learned of the Census Bureau’s role in finding and rounding up Japanese American families. Now, they are one of the dozens of states, cities, and groups, who are going to trial against the question.
“The consequences of adding this question are far too great to just sit by silently,” says Sharon Sakamoto, 75, who was born in the Minidoka prison camp located in Idaho.
Former Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta also opposes the proposed question and wants the government to remember its history. Mineta, 87, was sent to a Wyoming prison camp with his family when he was 10 years old, and worries that the intentions of the citizenship question is to intimidate.
“One of the things it does is intimidate people,” he says. “All I could think of was what it was like for [Japanese-American] evacuees to be facing a census and whether or not that information could be used.”
The controversial citizenship question has previously raised suspicions due to the current administration’s ongoing anti-immigrant tactics. And despite of the government shutdown, the administration will still face a trial in San Francisco on January 7, 2019.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story.