My teacher said that during WWII, the Justice Dept. wanted 2 use law enforcement to moniter the Japanese. Why?

Question

Did they opt for that course of action in order to gain more power or something?

Answer 1

After Pearl Harbor there was widespread paranoia and racism towards American with Japanese ancestry. The Justice department felt that they were capable of monitoring the Japanese (and German and Italian) populations and identifying those who were potential threats. However there was strong political pressure from Congress to take extreme action.

In fact the Department Of Justice had identified specific individuals who were suspected of supporting Japan in the war. These people were placed in interment camps for the duration of the war.

However - this was only a very small percentage of the population of American citizens of Japanese ancestry. The Department of Justice refused to inter any person for whom there was no evidence of disloyalty and in fact threatened mass resignations if such an order was given to them.

As a result the orders to inter all persons of Japanese ancestry - without any regard to loyalty was given to the military.

Answer 2

There was a widespread paranoia in high levels of the government at the time that Japanese Americans (and to a lesser extent, German Americans) could be spies/saboteurs for their home country. As such, the justice department monitored many, and ultimately most people of Japanese descent were sent to "internment camps" in the desert and plains.

Answer 3

No, we were at war with Japan and we feared that a large number of Japanese-Americans would favor their homeland and families over their adopted country so the government thought it was best to monitor their activities. We were afraid after Pearl Harbor and didn't know what to expect next so we took the best steps we could to protect America and made some bad decisions under the stress of the times.

Answer 4

The enemy alien communities (German and Japanese) were distrusted by some in the government. For example, my family was discouraged from speaking German (the native language) and the churches we attended were no longer allowed to hold services in German because of suspicion that they would be used for some unlawful, or disloyal purpose.
The Japanese Americans are the most famous for being placed in camps, but they also did it to German Americans living here and even confiscated their property, most of which was disposed of when they were released from their unlawful detention.

Answer 5

They were afraid that the large numbers of Japanese Americans that lived in the United states, particularly on the West Coast posed a threat to the United States in terms of spying, sending info to the Japanese homeland, or actively sabatoging the U.S. economy or war effort.

Answer 6

Due to the fact we were at war with the Japanese its not uncommon to have them monitored incase any were spying, the FBI monitored the Iraqi citizens here during the early stages of the war for the same reason. Just to make sure they didnt try anything.

Answer 7

They were considered to be the enemy, although some of the Japanese living in this country at the time are either naturalized citizens, or citizens by birth.

Answer 8

they not only monitored the Japanese ,they put them in camps with fences and guards in this country,the Grand ole US of A.
Ask your teacher about that.
Civilians,not captured military guys,Japanese-Americans who were living in this country when the war broke out.
They did not do that to the Germans or the Italians though.

Answer 9

the japs were an evil enemy and the Gov was afraid that the ones living here would assist them.....personally I feel that if the actions we took saved even one American life,then they did good...there is no way of knowing,of course,but there is really no way an evil empire such as japan would not have seeded the japs living here with spies...