1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

The United States has already learned—painfully—what happens when fear overrides constitutional rights. During Japanese American internment, over 120,000 people were imprisoned on American soil without due process. Families lost homes, businesses, dignity, and decades of opportunity. The moral stain endured long after the camps closed. Today, expanding detention systems run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement risk repeating that same disgrace under a different name. Mass detention of undocumented migrants—many held for prolonged periods under opaque authority—creates the same ingredients: indefinite confinement, weakened legal protections, and a government claiming necessity over rights. History makes the consequences clear. Internment destroys families, destabilizes communities, and permanently damages America’s credibility as a nation governed by law. Congress must remember the lesson written into our own past: policies born from fear become national regrets. Act now to impose strict oversight, protect due process, and prevent another generation of American camps from becoming tomorrow’s apology.