The Forgotten Japanese Internment in Latin America
Thousands of Latin Americans of Japanese descent were forcibly relocated to U.S. camps during WWII, a chapter rarely taught in American schools.
When most Americans hear about the internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II, the focus is usually on the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans uprooted from their homes and detained in camps across the United States. However, far less known is another chapter of this dark period—the U.S. led internment and relocation of over 2,200 Japanese Latin Americans, a story largely hidden from mainstream history.
Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States government feared that people of Japanese descent throughout the Americas posed a shared threat, even beyond its own borders. To mitigate what it considered potential security risks, the U.S. government persuaded more than thirteen Latin American countries—notably Peru, which had the largest local Japanese population—to round up and deport residents of Japanese ancestry to the United States. Some non-Japanese Germans and Italians were also targeted, but the program primarily focused on the Japanese community.
Unlike Japanese Americans, who were at least permanent residents or citizens, most Japanese Latin Americans were completely foreign to the U.S. These individuals, many of whom had never set foot in the United States, were taken from their homes with little warning. Peruvian officials, often eager to seize businesses and properties, cooperated with U.S. authorities. Whole families were separated. Men were often taken first, while their wives and children would sometimes follow months later.
Upon their forced arrival, Japanese Latin Americans were sent to the same types of detention facilities as their U.S.-born counterparts. The largest camp for these new detainees was at Crystal City, Texas, where their experience was marked by uncertainty. The U.S. government had plans to use many of these people as hostages for prisoner exchanges with Japan. Indeed, more than 900 Japanese Latin Americans were put on ships and sent through dangerous waters to Japan during wartime, many leaving behind family still interned.
Those who were not exchanged often lived in limbo. At the war’s end, some were declared “illegal aliens,” as their documentation was taken upon arrival, and they had no right to enter or remain in the United States. Their Latin American countries, Peru in particular, refused to take them back. Denied repatriation and unable to return home, many found themselves stranded, often only finding stability after years of advocacy and legal struggle.
This U.S.-orchestrated deportation, distinct from but parallel to the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans, remained largely hidden for decades. Survivors who returned to their South American homes found themselves marginalized and their stories seldom acknowledged. It was not until the 1980s and 1990s that their demands for redress were recognized. While the U.S. government issued a formal apology and compensation to most Japanese American internees in 1988, Japanese Latin Americans were largely excluded. Some finally received modest symbolic compensation after prolonged legal battles, but the legacy of lost heritage, liberty, and home could not be restored.
Today, the episode remains little known, even among those who study World War II history. Museums and scholars have begun acknowledging this chapter, but it is still rarely taught in American schools. The story of the Japanese Latin American internees serves as a sobering reminder of how fear and discrimination can reach beyond borders, impacting lives far from the American mainland, and often disappearing from our collective memory.
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