[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 21, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S4616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       WARTIME VIOLATION OF ITALIAN AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, on October 19, 2000, more than 50 
years after the end of World War II, Congress passed the Wartime 
Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act. I am pleased to have 
been the Senate sponsor of that bill which directed the U.S. Department 
of Justice to study the treatment of Italian-Americans at the hand of 
the Federal Government during the War and to deliver a report on its 
findings to the Congress.
  This report has now been completed. The 42-page report, prepared by 
the Department's Civil Rights Division concludes: ``After the December 
7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, citizens and aliens of Italian-American 
descent were subjected to restrictions, including curfews, searches, 
confiscations of property, the loss of livelihood, and internment.'' 
While the report can obviously not undo the injustices suffered by 
Italian Americans in the past, it is important that mistakes of the 
past be understood and acknowledged so that they are not repeated. This 
report will finally shine light on a largely unknown era of this 
nation's history--the injustices perpetrated by our government against 
thousands of Americans of Italian descent during the war.
  While most Americans are aware of the mass evacuation and internment 
of Americans of Japanese descent shortly after the bombing of Pearl 
Harbor on 1941, very few are aware that because the United States was 
also at war with Mussolini's Italy, approximately 250 Americans of 
Italian descent were arrested and detained in internment camps 
throughout the United States. Like Japanese Americans, the internees 
were not informed of the charges against them or provided legal 
counsel, and the vast majority were arrested and detained without any 
evidence that they had done anything wrong. Their only crime was their 
Italian heritage or their involvement in Italian organizations.
  By early 1942, all Italian immigrants, estimated to be approximately 
600,000 people, were labeled ``enemy aliens'' and were forced to 
register at local post offices around the country. They were 
fingerprinted, photographed and required to carry photo-bearing ``enemy 
alien registration cards'' at all times. Their travel was restricted to 
no further than five miles from their home and any ``signaling 
devices''--cameras, shortwave radios, flashlights--or weapons were 
considered contraband and had to be turned in to authorities or were 
confiscated.
  Italian Americans living on the West coast were subject to a curfew 
from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and some were forced to evacuate areas the 
military deemed sensitive military zones, leaving their homes and jobs 
behind. Ironically, in areas where Italian Americans were the majority 
population, these restrictions caused serious employment and food-
supply problems at a time when all human and food resources were needed 
for the war effort.
  The injustices suffered by Italian Americans during the war touched 
all socioeconomic classes. The parents of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio 
were forbidden to go any further than five miles from their home 
without a permit. Enrico Fermi, a leading Italian physicist who was 
instrumental in America's development of the atomic bomb, could not 
travel freely along the East Coast. The most disturbing irony was that 
at the time these injustices were being perpetrated, Italian Americans 
were the largest immigrant group in the United States Armed Forces and 
were fighting abroad to defend this country.
  Twelve years ago, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and 
rightfully admitted and apologized for the atrocities committed against 
American citizens and immigrants of Japanese ancestry during World War 
II. With the passage of the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil 
Liberties Act, the truth has now been told about the mistreatment of 
Americans of Italian descent during the war. This should not only be 
important to the Italian-Americans whose rights were violated and 
unjustly disrupted during the war but to every American who values our 
Constitutional freedoms. By increasing our Nation's awareness of these 
tragic events, we ensure that such discrimination will never happen 
again in this country.

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