Speech #920277672

H.R. 8215. which I introduced. and by the unsolicited editorials. in some instances indignantly insistent in tone. calling for the quick enactment of the measure. The legislation I introduced is directed toward erasing one of the last vestiges of what has been called "the blackest page in American history." I am referring. of course. to the World War II episode involving some 110.000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and their parents who were uprooted from their homes along the west coast and in Hawaii. deprived of most of their property. and imprisoned in what the Federal Government chose to call "relocation centers." but which were in fact concentration camps. complete with barbed wire fences and armed guards. Many of these immigrant parents. barred by law until 1953 from becoming naturalized American citizens. held yen certificates of deposit in various U.S. branches of the Yokohama Specie Bank. At the outbreak of World War II. the assets in these branch banks were confiscated. or vested. under the authority of the Trading With the Enemy Act. so that such property would not be used to aid the enemy during the period of hostilities. When Congress in 1946 enacted a comprehensive plan for allowing claims of legitimate creditors of enemy alien firms and entities whose assets had been vested. payment was expressly barred to creditors who were interned or paroled as "enemy aliens." Former internees who held Yokohama Specie Bank certificates of deposit were thus barred from recovering their hardearned savings. and to this day they remain unrecompensed. At least two subsequent acts of Congress served only to underscore and prolong the unfortunate plight of these people in their efforts to recover their Yokohama Specie Bank savings. In 1953. Japanese immigrants were permitted to become naturalized American citizens. and thousands. including these former internees. demonstrated their longfelt loyalty by becoming naturalized citizens of the United States. In 1956. Congress refused to discriminate against internees when it passed the Evacuation Claims Act. which compensated JapaneseAmercans for certain property losses suffered during the period of wartime hysteria.