JANM Denounces US Supreme Court’s Decision to Lift Restrictions on Race-Based Immigration Stops in the Los Angeles Area

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 troubled by the US Supreme Court’s decision to lift restrictions on immigration stops in the greater Los Angeles area. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision lifted a restraining order from US District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles who found that federal immigration agents were conducting indiscriminate arrests in Los Angeles. Now that the restraining order is lifted, federal immigration agents may legally stop and question people that they suspect are undocumented based on their race, language, and work in the region. 

“This decision will subject countless people in the Los Angeles area to unconstitutional and needless assaults and arrests based on their race, language, and work. Individuals, families, and communities will be criminalized. How can this be viewed as anything other than yet another broadside on our constitutionally protected freedoms? The parallels between 1942 and today cannot be denied. Our Norman Y. Mineta Democracy Plaza is the site where Los Angeles area Japanese American families were forcibly bussed to concentration camps in 1942. That history is part of JANM’s DNA and the reason why the Museum exists. Now more than ever, we must use the lessons of American history to confront the realities of today and stand up to government overreach,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

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