The incarceration of Japanese Americans is widely regarded as one of the largest civil rights violations in American history. The incarceration evolved from deep anti-Japanese sentiment on the West Coast of the United States. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, pressure from West Coast military leadership, politicians, the media, and nativist groups eventually convinced President Franklin Roosevelt that action needed to be taken to address the “threat.” to the national security that Japanese Americans posed. In reality, Japanese Americans posed no real threat to the United States, but racist feelings against them prevailed and greatly influenced U.S. policy during the war. When talking about the internment of Japanese Americans, it is important to understand the definition of the terminology used in association with Japanese Americans and internment. The government's policy of removing Japanese Americans from the West Coast was officially called "evacuation"; this term implies that the Japanese Americans were moved for their own safety. In reality, this was an involuntary act, and internees who returned to the West Coast were arrested, making the terms “exclusion” or “mass removal” more appropriate. There has long been debate as to whether internment was indeed an appropriate term for the detention of Japanese Americans. Internment, the term typically used to describe the detention of Japanese citizens, is defined as the lawful detention of enemy aliens during wartime. This is not accurate as approximately 66% of incarcerated people were American citizens. Incarceration, on the other hand, refers to the imprisonment of citizens, not foreigners, so it more accurately describes the situation faced… halfway through the paper… voluntary transfer had little success and the program was eventually discontinued. On March 27, DeWitt issued Public Proclamation No. 4, preventing Japanese Americans on the West Coast from moving out of the area, until ordered by the military to do so. When forced to relocate, Japanese Americans were not guaranteed the protection of their rights. their properties, as a result, they were forced to sell much of their possessions at low prices. A postwar study estimated that Japanese Americans lost $347 million due to loss of income and property. Forced relocation was carried out thoroughly, to an absurd degree, almost similar to Jim Crow laws. People who were as little as 1/16 Japanese or who were previously unaware of their Japanese heritage were subjected to "evacuation". Even Japanese-American children were not spared, having been taken from both foster homes and orphanages.