The recent opening of an immigration centre in El Paso, Texas, has reignited protests of the Trump administration’s tough immigration plans from Japanese Americans. The internment camp, which opened in August 2025, is on the site of a military base that was used to intern Japanese Americans during the war.
In the past few months hundreds of Japanese Americans have been protesting the construction of new immigration centres and plans to detain thousands of people by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit (Ice), because it stirs up memories of how their families were rounded up during the second world war.
The US government has also invoked the 1798 Alien and Enemies Act, last used in the second world war, to increase the powers of Ice to detain individuals.
