The Forgotten Japanese Internment in Latin America
Few Americans realize that during World War II, the US forcibly relocated hundreds of Japanese Latin Americans to its own internment camps.
In the shadows of World War II, the United States government carried out a policy that remains a little-known chapter of history: the forced removal and internment of Japanese Latin Americans. Beginning in 1942, the US orchestrated the seizure and deportation of over 2,000 men, women, and children of Japanese descent from 13 Latin American countries, most notably Peru. This was not a domestic matter within US borders, but an operation that stretched across the Americas.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, American officials grew anxious about Axis influence in the Western Hemisphere. They applied pressure on Latin American governments to detain and expel citizens and residents of Japanese, German, and Italian ancestry. Through a combination of diplomatic coercion and secret agreements, the US arranged for these civilians to be shipped via Panama and other ports to American soil. Some countries complied more readily than others; Peru, with its sizable Japanese community, became the main source of detainees.
Once transported to the US, mostly to the Crystal City internment camp in Texas, the Japanese Latin Americans were treated as “illegal aliens,” despite many having been legal residents or even citizens in their home countries. Many had never lived in the US, nor possessed any ties to Japan beyond ancestry. Yet the US government justified this policy under the guise of hemispheric security.
Compounding the injustice, the US used nearly 1,400 of these individuals as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges with Japan, trading civilians for Americans held in Asia. Families were sometimes separated, and the trauma of displacement and stigmatization persisted for decades. After the war, most Latin American countries refused to take their own citizens back. The US would not grant them citizenship or legal resettlement, forcing many to remain in exile or seek passage to war-torn Japan, a land unfamiliar to many.
This episode was largely hidden from public discourse for years. Even when the US government offered redress to Japanese American survivors of internment in 1988, Japanese Latin Americans were initially excluded. Only after legal battles did a portion receive very limited compensation—an acknowledgment, but hardly restitution.
The internment of Japanese Latin Americans serves as a stark reminder of how war, xenophobia, and expedience can intersect to upend lives far beyond anticipated borders. Although little discussed, it remains an important part of understanding America’s legacy during World War II and the broader impact of internment policies throughout the Americas.
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