WHEREAS, On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, pursuant to which 120,000 Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order 9066 deferred the American dream for 120,000 Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry by inflicting a great human cost of abandoned homes, businesses, careers, and professional advancements, and disruption to family life; and

WHEREAS, Despite their families being incarcerated behind barbed wire in the United States, approximately 33,000 veterans of Japanese ancestry fought bravely for our country during World War II, serving in the 100th Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion; and

WHEREAS, The 100th Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion heroically suffered nearly 10,000 casualties and are honored as being among World War II’s most decorated combat teams, receiving seven Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588 Silver Stars, 5,200 Bronze Stars, and 9,486 Purple Hearts; and

WHEREAS, On June 21, 2000, President William Jefferson Clinton elevated 20 Japanese Americans who served in the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were among 52 individuals who received the nation’s second highest award—the Distinguished Service Cross—to receive the nation’s highest military honor—the Medal of Honor—bringing the total number of recipients who so received the Medal of Honor to 21; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 6,000 veterans of Japanese ancestry served with the Military Intelligence Service and have been credited for shortening the war by two years by translating enemy battle plans, defense maps, tactical orders, intercepted messages and diaries, and interrogating enemy prisoners; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 40 years subsequent to the United States Supreme Court decisions upholding the convictions of Fred Korematsu, Min Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi for violations of curfew and Executive Order 9066, it was discovered that the United States War Department and Department of Justice officials altered and destroyed evidence regarding the loyalty of Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry and withheld information from the United States Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, Dale Minami, Peggy Nagae, Rod Kawakami, and many attorneys and interns contributed innumerable hours to win a reversal in 1983 of the original convictions of Korematsu, Yasui, and Hirabayashi by filing a petition for writ of error coram nobis on the grounds that fundamental errors and injustice occurred; and

WHEREAS, On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, finding that Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity and, hence, was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership; and

WHEREAS, February 19, 2001, marks 59 years since the signing of Executive Order 9066, a policy of grave injustice against American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry; now, therefore, be it