An "Enemy Alien's" Mysterious Fate

June 28, 2007 • Kenji Murase

Much has been written about the experiences of the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned during World War II. Much less is known about the 5,000 Japanese “enemy aliens” who were taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). As early as 1939, the Justice Department, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Army’s Military Intelligence Division compiled lists of persons considered to be potentially “dangerous” enemy aliens who could commit acts of subversion. By the evening of December 7, …