This ranged from education to locations of residence. However, the federal government did not allow many of these laws to pass.
During the World War I, the anti-Japanese sentiment diminished slightly when Japan entered the war on the side of the allies. However, when in 1924 Japanese citizens were excluded from immigrating to the United States, the old prejudices were again on the rise. .
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, fear of Japanese-American citizens escalated to a fever pitch. It was thought that many of them were sleeper agents waiting for instructions for attacks on American soil. "Denise", in Okita's poem, feels this way when she accuses her friend of "giving secrets away to the enemy" (1019). After the attack, President Roosevelt classified nationals of the Axis powers as enemy aliens. This allowed freezing of their accounts and seizing of their properties. This also allowed imprisoning any of them assumed to be dangerous (Armor 13). Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt was the Western Defense Commander. Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, DeWitt declared the West Coast of the United States and Alaska a "theater of operations." This made the area a war zone. DeWitt commenced with random raids of Japanese homes and seized guns, radios, and cameras from Japanese-American homes. He was quoted saying, "A Jap is a Jap. It makes no difference whether the Jap is a citizen or not" (Smithsonian). He justified his treatment of the Japanese by pointing out various groups that taught fencing, jiu-jitsu, and sumo wrestling to Japanese boys. He said that "they were advancing Japanese war aims" (Armor 22). Signs were posted saying things like "American Farmer. Japs or Hindus Not Wanted" (Conrat 84), "Japs Keep Out You Rats" (Conrat 93), and "We Don't Want Any Japs Back Here Ever" (Conrat 98). These signs probably influence "Denise" when she says, "You"re trying to start a war" (1019).