Italian American Internment - Attorney General's Report On Wartime Restrictions

Attorney General's Report On Wartime Restrictions

On November 7, 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act.(Pub.L. 106-451, 114 Stat. 1947) This law, in part, directed the U.S. Attorney General to conduct a comprehensive review of the treatment by the U.S. Government of Italian Americans during World War II and to report on its findings within a year. The Attorney General submitted this report, A Review of the Restrictions on Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II, to the U.S. Congress on November 7, 2001 and the House Judiciary Committee released the report to the public on November 27, 2001. The report, covering the period September 1, 1939, to December 31, 1945, describes the authority under which the United States undertook enforcement of wartime restrictions on Italian Americans and detailed these restrictions. In addition, the report provides 11 lists, most of which include the names of those most directly affected by the wartime restrictions. The lists include:

1. the names of 74 persons of Italian ancestry taken into custody in the initial roundup following the attack on Pearl Harbor and prior to the United States declaration of war against Italy,
2. the names of 1,881 other persons of Italian ancestry who were taken into custody,
3. the names and locations of 418 persons of Italian ancestry who were interned,
4. the names of 47 persons of Italian ancestry ordered to move from designated areas under the Individual Exclusion Program or, and an additional 12 who appeared before the Individual Exclusion Board, though it unknown if an exclusion order was issued,
5. the names of 56 persons of Italian ancestry not subject to individual exclusion orders who were ordered to temporarily move from designated areas,
6. the names of 442 persons of Italian ancestry arrested for curfew, contraband, or other violations,
7. a list of 33 ports from which fishermen of Italian ancestry were restricted,
8. names of 315 fishermen of Italian ancestry who were prevented from fishing in prohibited zones,
9. the names of 2 persons of Italian ancestry whose boats were confiscated,
10. a list of 12 railroad workers of Italian ancestry prevented from working in prohibited zones, of whom only 4 are named, and
11. a list of 6 wartime restrictions on persons of Italian ancestry resulting specifically from Executive Order 9066.