I wear a few somewhat incongruent hats these days. I am proud that, wearing one of them, I was fortunate enough to play a tiny part in bringing this phenomenal team effort to fruition. This report is hard to read because it’s heartbreaking. But please do read it - and share it widely 🙏

I requested my great grandfather’s alien enemy file from the National Records Archive. 300ish pages arrived in parts. Some is just paperwork- immigration forms, the alien enemy questionnaire, etc. Parts feel too personal to share here- letters from his young daughters, pleading for his release.

I’ve lived in Quebec for like 8 years now and this is still how I feel most days haha

This is his letter to his family when they were “interned.” It makes me both sad and angry how accepting he and many were of all of this. In a sense, we have come a long way since then- with the ACLU et al jumping into action at the first hint of the AEA invocation. If only the courts could save us.

I found part of my great grandfather’s alien enemy file online at the National Records Archive today (ordered the rest). I noticed right away that he got a hearing notice and there were Board decisions in his case. At least, minimum due process seems to have been given.

Join @aiisforg.bsky.social and Densho to learn more about the history of the Alien Enemies Act and Angel Island’s role as a WWII detention site, and make connections between past and present. 📅 Tuesday, May 13, 12:00-1:00pm PST 💻 Virtual Event 📋 Register: bit.ly/angel5-13

Matter of W-G-R- was my case, so I feel like I know an intellectually dishonest and contrived BIA decision when I see one … Today’s decision in Matter of A-A-R- is definitely both of those things. www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1...

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Japanese American history is more important today than perhaps ever

Yes. It’s horrifying on a very visceral level, even to those of us in following generations. We grew up hearing these stories.

How do I know the Alien Enemy Act will be applied to people who are no one’s enemy at all? It was applied to my great grandpa, Issei Matsuura, a Japanese Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest. He immigrated from Japan in 1915, and he and his wife saw the Japanese community in Guadalupe, CA through so much.

Left: government declaration filed yesterday in the Alien Enemies Act case. Right: Lt General John DeWitt, Final Report: Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast 1942 Sometimes history rhymes damn near *perfectly*. #LawSky #Skystorians

“Without due process, Trump’s sweeping allegations are unproven,” San Jose Nikkei Resisters told AsAmNews, “and to impose detention and deportation without evidence or lawful charges are the actions of a police state.”

How do I know the Alien Enemy Act will be applied to people who are no one’s enemy at all? It was applied to my great grandpa, Issei Matsuura, a Japanese Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest. He immigrated from Japan in 1915, and he and his wife saw the Japanese community in Guadalupe, CA through so much.

This a thousand times. “Why don’t they just apply for citizenship?” Well, do I have a story for you… 🫠

A propos nothing in particular…

The “enemy alien” in my family was my great grandfather, Issei Matsuura. He was a Buddhist priest, who immigrated from Japan to Guadalupe, CA. With his wife, he ran a children’s home for the kids of Japanese migrant workers during the Spanish Flu Pandemic. www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/p...

83 years since EO 9066. Here is my mom with her parents - she was born into imprisonment at Gila River Relocation Center. She spoke kind and firm words of encouragement to me this past week when I told her of my efforts to get immigration lawyers to Guantánamo. www.newsweek.com/guantanamo-b...

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Today in the Michigan Senate, I shared reflections on Fred Korematsu Day and the importance of courageous Americans standing up against unjust executive orders, then and now. #fredkorematsu Watch here: youtu.be/-q02Mw8xpRA?...

Today we honor Fred T. Korematsu. During WWII, the U.S. gov’t forcibly incarcerated 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (many U.S. citizens). Fred defied the gov’t’s orders & refused to report to the camps. He challenged the incarceration’s constitutionality & lost before SCOTUS in 1944. 1/2

I love America, and because I do we CANNOT forget that the US forcibly relocated & incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in 10 concentration camps. About two-thirds were U.S. citizens.

One of the Chinese government’s best kept secrets is the vast system of colonial boarding schools in Tibet, eerily reminiscent of the residential schools in the US and Canada.

This is what I have always assumed and why it’s important to get a variety of narratives out there in the open, not just the ones that suit a narrow agenda.

Happy New Year. We started 2025 by sharing osechi ryori with our family and friends. May each of us be a light in the darkness this year.