The little-known WWII law that sparked a citizenship crisis for Japanese Americans

5,589 Japanese Americans Renounce Citizenship at Tule Lake

Tule Lake hides the biggest mass loss of citizenship in U.S. history. In 1944, President Roosevelt signed a law that let citizens give up their rights during war.

Then came news that all camps would close. Fear spread fast among Japanese Americans who had no homes to go back to.

Army staff told them they could stay safe if they gave up being American. Soon, 5,589 people at Tule Lake did just that.

Some were mad about unfair treatment, others wanted to keep their families whole, many were just scared. By 1946, over 1,300 of them were sent to Japan.

The Tule Lake National Monument in California now stands where thousands once faced an awful choice.

Roosevelt Signs Law Letting Americans Ditch Citizenship at Home

On July 1, 1944, President Roosevelt signed the Renunciation Act, letting U.S. citizens give up their citizenship without leaving the country.

The government created this law after Japanese Americans fought back against the loyalty program in 1943 and caused problems when the draft returned for Nisei in 1944.

Before this, anyone wanting to stop being American had to go overseas and tell a U.S. diplomat. Attorney General Francis Biddle started using the new rules by October 1944.

Few People Jumped at the Chance to Give Up Their Rights

At first, only about two dozen Tule Lake inmates asked to give up their citizenship.

Edward Ennis from the Justice Department thought maybe one to three thousand Japanese Americans would take this step.

Anyone wanting to renounce had to fill out forms saying they knew they’d lose all their rights as Americans.

The process needed hearings where officials would decide on each application.

Camp Closure News Triggered Widespread Panic

Everything changed on December 17, 1944, when the government announced all camps would close within a year.

This news scared people at Tule Lake.

Inmates worried about moving to towns where they had no homes, no money, and faced angry Americans.

Army guards told them a simple fix: renounce your citizenship and you can stay safe at Tule Lake until the war ends.

The barbed wire that kept them in also kept danger out.

Thousands Rushed to Surrender Their American Identity

A rush to renounce hit in late December 1944 right after the closure news. Within weeks, 5,589 Japanese Americans gave up their citizenship, with 5,461 of them at Tule Lake alone.

This meant 70% of all adult American citizens at the camp gave up their birthright. The crisis touched nearly every family, with 73% having at least one member who renounced.

People Gave Up Citizenship for Wildly Different Reasons

Some people renounced because they felt angry at the government for locking them up.

Others made the choice to keep their families together if their Issei parents faced being sent to Japan. Many saw renunciation as the only way to protect their loved ones by staying in the safety of Tule Lake.

Issei and Kibei with dual citizenship worried about becoming stateless if they lost both their Japanese and American status.

Life at Tule Lake Pushed People to Breaking Point

Tule Lake packed more than 18,700 people into a space built for 15,000, making it the biggest of all ten WRA camps.

People lived with awful housing, bad toilets and healthcare, and not enough food. The place had 28 guard towers, multiple fences, military police area, and jail.

Things got so bad that the Army took over from November 4, 1943, to January 15, 1944, after fights broke out.

War’s End Left Renunciants Stuck in Limbo

When Japan gave up in August 1945, Nisei who kept their U.S. citizenship could leave Tule Lake. But those who had given it up stayed trapped.

The government marked 3,000 Issei and 1,327 Nisei to be sent to Japan. Most renunciants stayed in America but lost all rights, soon to become “Native American Aliens.”

By the end of 1945, nine of the ten camps had closed, but Tule Lake kept going until 1946.

Lawyer Wayne Collins Stumbled Upon a Constitutional Crisis

In August 1945, Wayne Collins began helping Japanese Americans at Tule Lake who had been tricked into giving up their citizenship.

He first learned about the problem while visiting the camp in July and couldn’t believe what he heard. Collins wrote an angry letter to Attorney General Tom Clark and made form letters for the renunciants to use.

He filed a lawsuit, and Judge Louis E. Goodman ruled the mass renunciations wrong.

One Man’s Two-Decade Fight Against Government Injustice

When a federal appeals court decided each case needed its own review, Collins started a 23-year legal marathon.

He ended up filing around 10,000 affidavits, with these cases taking over his entire law practice for two decades.

Collins skipped vacations because he feared the government might suddenly ship all renunciants to Japan.

The Justice Department fought him every step of the way.

Families Made Heartbreaking Choices About Their Future

In February 1946, 4,406 Tule Lake inmates left for Japan by choice, including 1,327 renunciants, 1,523 aliens, and 1,767 U.S. citizens (mostly children).

Thanks to Collins’ work, not a single renunciant got sent to Japan after he started helping them. Not everyone wanted their citizenship back, though.

Joseph Kurihara chose to go to Japan and lived there for the rest of his life. Many families faced the painful choice between staying together or keeping their legal status.

The Long Road Back to American Citizenship

The government finally created an easier process in August 1956, which resolved most cases by 1959, though about 300 remained. Collins kept fighting for nine more years until the last case wrapped up in 1968.

On July 4, 1967, the Department of Justice created new rules letting renunciants fill out a standard form to request review of their renunciations.

By 1965, almost everyone who wanted their citizenship back had gotten it, mostly thanks to Wayne Collins’ tireless work that spanned more than 20 years.

Visiting Tule Lake National Monument, California

Tule Lake National Monument tells the story of 5,589 Japanese Americans who renounced their citizenship during World War II, the largest mass renunciation in U.S. history.

You can visit for free at the visitor center 8 miles south of Tulelake on Highway 139. The monument opens Memorial Day through Labor Day, Thursday to Sunday.

To see the jail and stockade where families made impossible choices, you need reservations at 530-260-0537 for ranger tours.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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