Why did FDR create internment camps for Japanese-Americans?

Because they believed normal Japanese Americans would attack Americans. It’s the same concept as the modern day GOP’s platform to round up all illegal Mexicans. Even though you can’t tell someone is illegal by looking at them so you can bet legal Mexicans will get rounded up too.

So everyone was insane?

It's similar to how Fauci and the health establishment will get away with their COVID crimes. They used fear and prejudice to direct people against a scapegoat just so people would "feel safe". Those scary Japanese Americans scared the white people so they needed to "feel safe" which meant imprisoning thousands of innocent Americans. Even though it was wrong then and now, the bad guys will get away with it because they can spin it as having meant well and the normie trash population is to busy watching TV and eating GrubHub to care. So it goes...

Probably ran a big corporation sponsored campaign and media indoctrination agenda to Convince sheep it was the right thing to do. That also worked for Hitler and the Germans to get a nation behind them and outcast Jews. Sheep are stupidly obedient.

The U.S. cracked Japan's encryption codes and was able to read the messages their consulates were sending to each other. Those messages clearly stated that ethnic Japanese (both Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans) were engaged in a large-scale espionage operation on the West Coast on behalf of Japan. Prosecuting the spies in a court was not an option because the evidence was top secret. Understandably, the U.S. wanted to get the spies off of the West Coast, so it ordered all ethnic Japanese to move east. Some did so. Those who did so did not have to spend any time in a camp. Those who could not move were sent to government internment camps aka relocation camps.

In the modern day, we are supposed to believe that U.S.-born Japanese-Americans of that era were all loyal Americans, but many attended school in Japan, were dual citizens, and some were openly loyal to Japan. See the "Niihau Incident" after Pearl Harbor for a particularly interesting case study.

historynet.com

A Japanese Pilot Crashed on a Hawaiian Island. The Bizarre Chain of Events That Followed May Have Influenced One of America's Most Regrettable Acts.

HistoryNet Staff

Conflicted allegiances leading to a deadly confrontation on Niihau may have had far-reaching repercussions for Japanese Americans during World War II.

Link:www.historynet.com/niihau-incident/

It was wrong and the US Government formally apologized for it decades ago.

This may explain the "why" but in no way does it excuse the wholesale imprisonment of Japanese Americans. Some may have been spies, but most were innocent and were wrongfully imprisoned. Even if some were "loyal" to Japan, that was their constitutional right, absent some *act* (e.g. spying) that was illegal. Expressing a particular viewpoint - even if unpopular - is one's 1st amendment right.

FDR should have been impeached for his crimes against American citizens, including kidnapping, false imprisonment, and theft.

Roosevelt was more of a political pragmatists on race than a principled champion of civil rights. He saw political benefits in moving for civil rights for blacks, Jews and Catholics and needed to break down racial barriers in order to successfully fight WWII and recover from the Great Depression. But Roosevelt was a product of his time and did not like Mexicans and Asians. Prior to WWII, he supported laws restricting immigration from Asia and prohibiting Asian immigrants from owning property. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was a big humiliation for Roosevelt. It was very expedient politically to then turn on Japanese Americans and throw them in internment camps. Racism against Japanese Americans during WWII was off the charts. So, it was easy for Roosevelt to score political points by opening the internment camps.

The justification was the fear that Japanese Americans were secretly loyal to the Emperor and would engage in spying and sabotage against the US on the west coast to lay the groundwork for a Japanese invasion. But Japan's imperial ambitions ended at Hawaii, which Japan viewed as being historically its own territory. For Roosevelt, the political calculation was simple. There were very few Asians in the US who were naturalized US citizens who could vote and many Americans who wanted to see Japanese Americans rounded up.

Yes, it was abhorrent and despicable. He got away with it because the country was fighting a bloody war with Japan that led to 1m US casualties. War brings out hatred, tribalism and racism.

It’s easy to judge now but it’s not like our society has improved much. Trump campaigned on a blanket ban of all Muslims back in 2016. More recently we’ve seen social media-driven protestors display obvious antisemitism and harass Jews. Just to name a couple examples. I guarantee you if the country ever goes to a serious war ever again, there will be calls for internment camps.

Some of you should learn some history. In the late 1930s the most numerous ethnic group in the US was people of German descent and there was a great deal of support and sympathy for the nazis and for fascistic ideas. The US and most of its states were institutionally and legally racially segregated. Racialist ideas were not only common place they were law.

Couple such ideas with a surprise attack on Hawaii by the Japanese, an event that killed a huge number of people and had an effect on the national psyche probably more serious even than 9/11, and it was a natural and easy response to round up Japanese immigrants. Following 9/11 there was a lot of suspicion directed at Muslims in a similar fashion.

The US has a long history of institutionalizing racist hatred against a diverse area of subpopulations.

You know if they're here illegally if they don't have a visa or not a citizen. To have a job here you're 'supposed' to be legally allowed to work, meaning the right visa is obtained or you are a citizen. This makes it so everyone pays their taxes instead of getting paid under the table to avoid making sure everyone is officially able to work. 'Look at that plane' is probably the type of person who wants people to pay taxes, but I guess not in all cases.