JANM is Concerned about Reports of ICE’s Presence on Terminal Island

Editors please note: JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is deeply concerned about reports regarding the presence of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at or around the federal prison on Terminal Island, where Japanese Americans were forcibly removed and subsequently imprisoned in American concentration camps during World War II. 

Once home to 3,000 Japanese fishermen, cannery workers, and merchants, the Terminal Island community was shattered at the start of the US’s entry into World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Issei (first generation) leaders and fishermen were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Overnight, families were split apart, and homes were turned into disarray as FBI agents searched for so-called “contraband” like radios and cameras. With the signing of Executive Order 9066, the remaining community members had two days to pack their belongings and find housing. Once they were gone, the Navy bulldozed homes and shops, and confiscated abandoned boats for military purposes. The Terminal Island community was imprisoned at the Manzanar concentration camp in California’s Owens Valley for the duration of the war.

“JANM is gravely concerned about reports of ICE presence on Terminal Island—an act that chillingly echoes the shameful forced removal of Japanese Americans from that very place eighty-three years ago. This dangerous pattern signals a willful failure to heed the lessons of wartime incarceration. Those lessons are not relics of the past—they are urgent calls to defend contemporary threats to democracy, protect human dignity, and demand accountability in the face of injustice,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

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