At the start of America's campaign to enter the Second World War in 1942, the Japanese Americans were the minority most subject to prejudice, whether it was in their towns, or on a judicial level. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor released a stigma within the American public. It was aimed at Japanese Americans. This stigma was that people of Asian heritage were a threat to the American way of life, and they should not enjoy the same liberties as the rest of Americans. Their internment was, without a doubt, an unjust consequence of racial and ethnic prejudice, war hysteria, and political failure. .
Japanese Americans were historically regarded in the lowest degree by the American public and leaders. The social and psychological persecution of Japanese Americans dates to the early 20th century, when immigration from Japan was slowed, and eventually stopped altogether by the government. Furthermore, Japanese American children were segregated from certain schools on the West Coast of the U.S. The racial tension between Japanese Americans and non-Asians only grew in the following years. After the Pearl Harbor attack, which was suspected to have been helped by "fifth column" Japanese spies, the American public separated itself from the Asian public, by way of segregating Asians from public places.
The general consensus of the time was that Japanese Americans could and would sabotage the United States for the sake of their native homeland. The military also had a similar opinion, by stating that the United States government should exclude Japanese American citizens and Japanese alien residents from U.S. bases, due to heightened fear of potential future military attacks. .
President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) demonstrated his views towards the Japanese Americans by personally approving evacuation of Japanese Americans from the West coast, and relocating them to internment camps. Roosevelt's decision echoed with the common opinion of the public, and that was that the Japanese Americans were a threat to America.