What did Executive Order 9066 do to Japanese Americans during World War II?

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 granted the U.S. military the authority to designate military areas from which any person could be excluded. Although the order did not explicitly name a specific group, it was used to forcibly remove approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans—two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens—from their homes on the West Coast.123

This policy led to the incarceration of these individuals in 10 remote detention camps across the western United States. Families were given little time to settle their affairs, forcing many to sell their homes, businesses, and possessions at significant financial loss. Inside the camps, internees lived in uninsulated barracks surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.132

The forced removal and detention of Japanese Americans was a grave injustice driven by racial prejudice and war hysteria rather than evidence of disloyalty. In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for the policy and provided reparations to survivors.13