A new immigrant detention center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, opened on Sunday, immediately drawing criticism from Japanese American advocacy groups, who’ve noted the historical parallels between the facility and the military base’s use during World War II, when it held Japanese, German, and Italian nationals considered “enemy aliens.”
The East Montana Detention Facility is expected to reach a capacity of 5,000, making it the largest federal immigration detention site in the United States
Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, told NBC News on Wednesday that, “it is inconceivable that the United States is once again building concentration camps, denying the lessons learned 80 years ago.” Burroughs went on to that the comparisons between the immigrant detention facility of the present and the internment camp of the past are “neither deranged nor lazy,” in response to comments made by Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin:…