After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military ordered people of Japanese descent on the West Coast to leave their homes. Families had days to sell or store property, and many lost homes, farms and businesses. Most were held in 10 War Relocation Authority camps in remote areas, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers. No Japanese American was convicted of espionage during the war.
In Korematsu v. United States in 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the removal. A 1983 federal commission found the incarceration was caused by race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. That year a federal court vacated Fred Korematsu's conviction. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 issued a formal apology and paid $20,000 to each surviving person who had been incarcerated.
The Supreme Court said in Trump v. Hawaii in 2018 that Korematsu was wrongly decided. Japanese American groups often speak out against immigration detention and religious profiling, citing their history.