From WWII Kidnapping to Reparations: The Japanese Latin American Experience Resonates Today

Saturday, June 20, 1-3pm

The Japanese Latin American wartime and redress experiences and their relevance in today’s fight against anti-immigrant persecution and anti-democracy authoritarianism will be explored with a panel discussion, including Grace Shimizu, Jeff Matsuoka, and Bekki Shibayama of the Campaign for Justice: Redress NOW for Japanese Latin Americans! and the Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, and with the U.S. premiere of film clips produced by Casey Peek of Peek Media.

America’s Last Concentration Camp: Crystal City

Exhibit Dates: May 20 – July 22, 2026

J-Sei Gallery, 1285 66th Street, Emeryville

Gallery Hours: M Tu Th Fr 2-5 pm, or by appointment: 510-654-4000

About the Exhibit

The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee will premiere its national traveling exhibit, based on their permanent exhibit at the My Story Museum in Crystal City, Texas. Additional interpretive panels will depict stories of the individual families who were incarcerated at Crystal City. Crystal City  Family Internment Camp, as it was called during the war, administered by the Department of Justice, held thousands of Japanese, Germans, and Italians in addition to Latin American residents of Axis nationalities.

Created as a family reunification center for immigrants arrested under the Alien Enemies Act in 1942, Crystal City remained open until 1948, long after WWII ended. Several hundred families were moved to Crystal City after their applications for reunification were approved. Several hundred families were moved to Crystal City after their applications for reunification were approved. In some cases, families waited a year or more to be reunited with their husband or father.

Crystal City was also used as a detention facility for individuals awaiting deportation in a prisoner of war exchange with Axis countries. The State Department devised a secret program called “Quiet Passages” to exchange prisoners held in DOJ prison camps for US civilians held behind enemy lines. Some prisoners went willingly, others were forcibly deported to Axis war zones. This included some children with US birthright citizenship whose parents were ineligible for naturalization, and Japanese Latin Americans who were kidnapped and brought to the US.

“By sharing our nation’s hidden histories and the powerful stories of survivors, we can begin to undo the historical amnesia that allows our government to harm children and families today,” said Crystal City Pilgrimage President Kaz Naganuma, whose family was forced to leave a flourishing laundry business in Peru and travel for three weeks by boat and train before being imprisoned in Texas.