Italian American internment

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Italian American Internment in the United States during World War II is less known than the internment of Japanese-Americans in the same period, and although there are emotional and common-sense similarities, there are important differences that must be observed.

Contents 1 Terms: Italian American, Enemy Alien 2 Before United States Entry Into World War II 2.1 Custodial Detention Index 2.2 Restriction of Use of American Ports 3 War Relocation Centers 4 1942 5 Actual Internment 6 References 7 Notes 8 External Links

[edit] Terms: Italian American, Enemy Alien

The term "Italian American" is not a legal one. It is generally understood to mean people of Italian descent born in the United States and, thus, native-born US citizens. These people commonly—as do many members of other ethnic groups—choose to refine the definition of their identity by adding the ethnically specific term "Italian". (In a broader defintion, "Italian American" may also be used to refer to Italian-born immigrants in the United States.)

"Enemy alien", on the other hand, has a legal definition. The relevant United States statutes are contained within Title 50, Chapter 3 of the U.S. Code, for example par. 21 ^[1], which applies only to persons 14 years of age or older who are within the United States and not actually naturalized. Under this provision, which was first defined and first enacted in 1798 and amended in 1918 to apply to females as well as to males, all "natives, citizens, denizens or subjects" of any foreign nation or government with which the United States is at war…"are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as alien enemies… ."^[2]

Thus, at the outbreak of WW2, for example, an Italian businessman temporarily living in the US, Italian diplomats, Italian students studying in the US, Italians working at the World's Fair in New York—all of these people became, by definition, "enemy aliens" the instant that Italy declared war on the US. In some cases, such temporary residents are expelled—in the case of diplomats—or given a chance to leave the country when war is declared. Some are interned, as were the Italian merchant seamen caught in US ports when their ships were impounded (discussed below) in 1939 when war broke out in Europe. The members of the "Italian community" in the United States presented an unusual problem. Defined in terms of national origin, it was the largest community in the US, having supplied a steady flow of immigrants from Italy between the 1880s and 1930. By 1940 there were, thus, millions of US-born "Italian Americans" in the United States—native-born American citizens. However, there were also a great many Italian "enemy aliens"—more than 600,000, according to most sources. These were not Italian students, diplomats, or businessmen, but rather 600,000 Italians who had immigrated during the previous decades and had never become naturalized citizens of the United States.

The laws regarding "enemy aliens" did not make a distinction among, say, pro-Fascist Italian businessmen living for a short time in the US and trapped there when war broke out, anti-Fascist refugees from Italy who might have arrived a few years earlier intending to become US citizens (but who had not completed the process of naturalization), and those who had emigrated from Italy at the turn of the century and raised entire families of US native-born "Italian Americans" but who, themselves, had never been naturalized. They were all simply "enemy aliens".

[edit] Before United States Entry Into World War II

[edit] Custodial Detention Index

The problem of "enemy aliens" in the US started well before the nation's entry into WW2 on December 8, 1941. In September, 1939, when Britain and France declared war against the Axis nations of Germany and Italy (later to include Japan), President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, to compile a Custodial Detention index of persons to be arrested in case of national emergency. Thus, at least a year before Pearl Harbor, the Dept. of Justice began to list possible saboteurs and enemy agents among the German, Japanese and Italian populations. ^[3] Also, resident aliens were registered in 1940 under the Smith Act.

[edit] Restriction of Use of American Ports

Under the "Restriction of Use of American Ports" section of the American Neutrality Act, passed in late October, 1939, the US assumed the right to interfere with (including impound) vessels of belligerent nations if the vessels interfered with US neutrality by attempting to "…carry out… from US jurisdiction… fuels, arms, munitions, implements of war, supplies, dispatches or information…" to a belligerent nation. ^[4] This was the authority by which a number of Italian merchant ships in US East Coast ports were seized and the crew detained as enemy aliens. During the last months of 1940 reports circulated that the Italian crews were sabotaging their own vessels so that the ships couldn't be confiscated and transferred to Britain for use in the war effort. In response, on March 30, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the impoundment of 69 foreign vessels in American waters and had their crews taken into custody. Then, the alien seamen were formally charged with exceeding the 60 days they were permitted to stay in U.S. territory. The Immigration and Naturalization Service transported the men to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, where they were detained for almost a month while Fort Missoula, Montana was prepared to receive them. ^{[5] [6]}

[edit] War Relocation Centers

A distinction must be made between enemy aliens (not US citizens) arrested as enemy aliens under U.S.C 50 ^[7] and those who were evacuated and interned under the War Relocation Authority. That authority was based on Executive Order 9066 of February 19, 1942, and Executive Order 9102 of March 18, 1942. These orders authorized the "… removal from designated areas of persons whose removal is necessary in the interests of national security… ^[8]. That authority did not distinguish between native-born Americans and citizens of other nations living in the United States; the orders simply said "persons" and those orders were the basis upon which large numbers of native-born US citizens of Japanese descent were evacuated from the West Coast shortly after Pearl Harbor. ^[9] The majority (approx. 60%) of the Japanese community interned were, in fact, native-born US citizens ^[10][11] and were not arrested under the Enemy Alien Act, but were simply "persons" removed under the War Relocation Authority.

Generally speaking, that was not the case with members of the Italian community. Although there were anomalous cases of US native-born Italian Americans being caught in the round-up, the others had been born in Italy and were still Italian citizens, even if many of them had resided in the US for decades.

Di Stasi ^[12] cites a number of such cases of mistreatment and internment of "Italian Americans," although he apparently defines "Italian American" as anyone within the Italian community, native-born US citizens or Italian-born non-US citizens.

(see also War Relocation Authority)

[edit] 1942

The general chronology of events regarding the treatment of enemy aliens and the reaction in the Italian community is as follows:

• In late December, 1941, enemy aliens throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are required to surrender hand cameras, short-wave radio receiving sets and radio transmitters not later than 11 P.M. on the following Monday. ^[13]

• In January of 1942, all enemy aliens were required to register at local post offices around the country. As enemy aliens they were required to be fingerprinted, photographed, and carry their photo-bearing "enemy alien registration cards" at all times.

• Attorney Justice Francis M. Biddle assured enemy aliens that they would not be discriminated against if they were loyal. He cited Department of Justice figures: Of the 1,100,000 (sic) enemy aliens in the United States, 92,000 were Japanese, 315,000 were German, and 695,000 were Italian. In all, 2,972 had been arrested and held, mostly Japanese and Germans. Only 231 Italians had been arrested. ^[14]

• On January 11, 1941, the New York Times reported that "Representatives of 200,000 Italian-American trade unionists appealed to President Roosevelt yesterday to 'remove the intolerable stigma of being branded as enemy aliens' from Italian and German nationals who had formally declared their intentions of becoming American citizens by taking out first papers before America's entry into the war." ^[15]

• A few weeks later, the same newspaper reported that "…Thousands of enemy aliens living in areas adjacent to shipyards, docks, power plants and defense factories prepared today to find new homes as Attorney General Biddle added sixty-nine more districts in California to the earlier list of West Coast sections barred to Japanese, Italian and German nationals. ^[16]

• On Feb 1, The Justice Dept. warned all aliens of enemy nationalities fourteen years of age or older that they had to register within the week if they lived in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Montana, Utah or Idaho. Failure to do so could result in severe penalties, including internment for the duration of the war. ^[17]

• In February the Italian American Labor Council met in New York and voiced "opposition to any blanket law for aliens that does not differentiate between those who are subversive and those who are loyal to America". ^[18]

• In March, the War Relocation Authority is established (see above). Again, the relocation of citizens and non-citizens, alike, under this authority was legally quite different than the arrest and detention of foreign nationals under the Enemy Alien Act. By September 23, 1942, The Justice Department claimed "…From the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until 1 September, 6,800 enemy aliens were apprehended in the United States and half of them have either been paroled or released." ^[19]

• In October, the 600,000 unnaturalized Italians living in the United States were freed from the stigma of being alien enemies. The plan was approved by President approved by FDR and many restrictions were lifted. Members of the Italian community could now travel freely, own cameras and firearms, and were not required to carry ID cards. ^[20]

[edit] Actual Internment

Hundreds of Italians were arrested in the months immediately after Pearl Harbor. By June of 1942, the total reached 1,521 Italian aliens arrested by the FBI. ^[21] About 250 individuals were interned for up to two years in military camps in Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

Italy's surrender on September 8, 1943 brought about the release of most of the Italian American internees by year's end. Some had been paroled months after "exoneration" by a second hearing board appealed for by their families. Nonetheless, most of the men had spent two years as prisoners, moving from camp to camp every three to four months. ^[22]

[edit] References

• Brandon, Michael (April, 1950). "Legal Control Over Resident Enemy Aliens in Time of War in the United States and in the United Kingdom". The American Journal of International Law 44 (2): 382-387. ISSN 00029300. 
• Harris, Charles W. (October, 1965). "The Alien Enemy Hearing Board as a Judicial Device as a Judicial Device in the United States during WWII". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 14 (4): 1360-1370. ISSN 00205893. 

• Hacker, Doug (June, 2001). "Aliens in Montana". American History Illustrated: 32-36. 

• Di Stasi, Lawrence (2004). Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II. Heyday Books. ISBN 1890771406. 

[edit] Notes

[edit] External Links

• New York legislaters discuss Italian American internment