After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese-Americans were seen as suspicious. Americans were afraid that there would be a spy among them, so they were sent to internment camps. 

The leader of the Western Defense Command, Lt. General John L. DeWitt, wanted control of the population to ensure there were no more events like Pearl Harbor. He filed a report filled with known lies. In one of these, he blamed the people for sabotaging power lines when it was actually cattle that caused the damage.

Anyone at least 1/16 Japanese was moved. This included about 17,000 children under the age of 10, as well as many disabled and elderly Japanese-Americans.

In Korematsu v. United States (1944) the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of internment. (“Khan Academy”) It took until 1988 for the United States to officially apologize to and compensate the survivors of the internment camps.

U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle had closed the borders of Canada and Mexico to any Japanese people trying to enter. Raids on Japanese immigrant homes without warrants were also authorized.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor at 8:00 in the morning on a Sunday, December 7th, 1941. It was a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval base that sunk a lot of U.S. ships and killed 2403 Americans. 

The Japanese citizens of the United States had to leave almost everything they knew and go to the internment camps. All they could bring was what they could carry, and that was usually a suitcase with clothes and some valuables inside of it.