The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) drew parallels between President Franklin Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the Trump administration’s plans to open a large detention center at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed these comparisons. A representative commented on Fox News Digital, stating that comparing foreign detention centers to historical internment camps is “crazy and lazy.” They emphasized that attacks on law enforcement agencies have surged by over 1,000% as a result.
“The ACLU needs to rethink its name,” the representative said. “ICE targets serious offenders—individuals guilty of murder, gang activities, and other heinous crimes. Around 70% of ICE arrests involve illegal immigrants who have criminal records or pending charges here.” The statement also mentioned that this does not account for known or suspected terrorists or violent criminals.
The Biden administration has been criticized for failing to track down sponsors of thousands of immigrant children, as revealed by records.
On Sunday, the “Camp East Montana” center was to open at Fort Bliss, a historically significant military base near the border with Mexico and New Mexico, as noted by a regional ACLU affiliate. They released a joint statement labeling the move as “another shameful chapter” in the base’s history.
This new usage of the base has been described as a part of President Trump’s “dystopian” deportation agenda, with accusations of using military resources for expulsion and targeting long-term residents and other migrants.
According to Sarah Mehta, a leading ACLU official, “President Trump’s latest actions at Fort Bliss represent a cruel legacy of detention.” She added, “Communities are being fractured, while the administration weaponizes military infrastructure to push its agenda.”
Fort Bliss is named after a Mexican-American war hero and previously held a small number of Japanese Americans during WWII.
In 1942, President Roosevelt issued an executive order that led to the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, aside from a small number of Italians and Germans.
While Fort Bliss wasn’t a large concentration camp, it did detain about 70 first-generation Japanese Americans at one point.
After the war, former German scientists, including Wernher von Braun, collaborated with the U.S. in developing the space program that is now under NASA’s management.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas recently toured the new detention facility at Fort Bliss. He noted that individuals detained there are already subject to deportation.
Democrat Veronica Escobar, representing El Paso, strongly opposed the facility, arguing that the projected $1 billion cost would divert critical resources from her district. Reports suggest that as many as 5,000 detainees may be held at Fort Bliss.
