- Due to the perception of a "public threat", all Japanese were targeted at different distances from the Pacific coast. Unless they were able to get rid of or take care of their property in a matter of days, their homes, farms, businesses, and most of their private belongings were gone forever.
- From late March to August, some 112,000 people were sent to "assembly centers" - often racetracks or fairgrounds - where they waited and were tagged to indicate the location of the long-term "resettlement center" that would be their home for the rest of the war. Almost 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens. None of these citizens had been charged with disloyalty, nor had a vehicle to appeal against loss of property and personal liberty.
- "Resettlement centers" were many miles inland, often in remote and desolate places. The sites included Tule Lake, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Manzanar, California; Topaz, Utah; Jerome, Arkansas; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Poston, Arizona; Granada, Colorado; and Rohwer, Arkansas. (Imprisonment rates were much lower in Hawaii, where Japanese Americans made up more than a third of the population and their labor force was needed to sustain the economy. Martial law was, however, declared in Hawaii immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack and the army issued hundreds of military orders. some only concerned people of Japanese descent).
- In the internment camps, four or five families, with a sparse collection of clothing and belongings, shared military-style barracks covered with tar paper. Most of them lived in these conditions for almost three years or more until the end of the war. Gradually, insulation and light partitions were added to the barracks to make them a bit more comfortable and a bit more private. Life took on acquaintances for routine socializing and schooling. However, eating in communal areas, using shared toilets and limited work opportunities have disrupted other social and cultural patterns. Those who resisted were sent to a special camp in Tule Lake, California, where dissidents were held.
In 1943 and 1944, the government assembled a Japanese-American combat unit for the European theater. He became the 442d Regimental Combat Team and gained fame as being the best decorated during World War II. Their military achievements testified to their patriotism.
As the war ended, the internment camps were slowly evacuated. While some people of Japanese descent returned to their hometown, others looked for a new environment. For example, the Japanese-American Tacoma community in Washington state was sent to three different centers; only 30 percent returned to Tacoma after the war. Japanese Americans from Fresno went to Manzanar; 80 percent returned to their hometown.
The internment of people of Japanese origin during World War II sparked a constitutional and political debate. During this period, three Japanese-American citizens challenged the constitutionality of relocation orders and curfews through legal action: Gordon Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu and Mitsuye Endo. Hirabayashi and Korematsu received negative ratings; but Mitsuye Endo, after a long fight on the smaller courts, was determined to be "loyal" and allowed the Topaz, Utah, facility to leave
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