Senator Min Responds to Attorney General’s Formal Apology for CalDOJ’s Role in the Incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Today, Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) released the following statement in response to Attorney General Rob Bonta’s formal apology on behalf of the California Department of Justice for its role in the systematic detention and incarceration of Japanese-Americans after the attacks in Pearl Harbor. During World War II, California operated three concentration camps - Manzanar at the base of the Sierra Mountains, Cow Creek in Death Valley, and Tule Lake near the Oregon border.

“Thank you to Attorney General Rob Bonta for formally acknowledging what we've all known in our hearts for over 80 years—the forced displacement and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II was wrong and the Supreme Court's decision in Korematsu was wrong. I am grateful to AG Bonta for his leadership and I hope that this apology for one of the most shameful episodes in American and Californian history provides at least a partial reconciliation for those who suffered from this internment, and their descendants, and also serves as a reminder of the need to be vigilant against racism and bigotry of all kinds."

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Senator Dave Min was elected to the 37th Senate District in 2020 and is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, as well as the Vice Chair of the California Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. The 37th Senate District is in the heart of Orange County and includes the communities of Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park.