MANZANAR Historic Resource Study/Special History Study

WAR DEPARTMENT ACTIONS TAKEN TO COMPLY WITH AGREEMENT

Subsequent to the aforementioned agreement, the War Department took steps to implement its provisions. Each assembly and relocation center within the Western Defense Command was made the basis for Civilian Restrictive Orders Nos. 1, 18, 19, 20, 23, and 24, describing the boundaries of the various camps. Center residents were required to remain within these physical boundaries. Each center resident was enjoined to obtain express written authority before undertaking to leave the designated area. During the assembly center phase, such permits were issued only by the WCCA.

On June 27, 1942, DeWitt promulgated Public Proclamation No. 8 to further assure the security of relocation centers and adjacent communities. Under its terms all center residents were required to obtain a permit before leaving the designated center boundaries. The proclamation specifically controlled ingress and egress of persons other than center residents. Violators of both the civilian restrictive orders and Public Proclamation No. 8 were subjected to the penalties provided under Public Law 503. DeWitt stated further that in "the delegation of authority to control ingress and egress," the WRA "was given full freedom of action in determining who might enter and who might leave." The military police stationed around the perimeters of the relocation centers would "not participate in this determination." Their mission, according to the general, "was merely to prevent unauthorized entry and unauthorized departure — as determined solely by the War Relocation Authority."

Four of the ten relocation centers were established outside the boundaries and jurisdiction of the Western Defense Command. To secure uniformity of control, the War Department published Public Proclamation WD:1 on August 13, 1942, designating Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Granada in Colorado, and Jerome and Rohwer in Arkansas as military areas. This proclamation contained provisions similar to those of Public Proclamation No. 8 relative to entry into and departure from relocation centers.

While DeWitt retained authority to regulate and prohibit the entry or movement of persons of Japanese ancestry in the evacuated areas (Military Areas Nos. 1 and 2), he delegated authority, on August 11, 1942, to determine entry into and departure from the relocation centers to the director of the WRA and to such persons as the director might designate in writing. The director in turn delegated responsibility to the individual directors of the relocation centers. The net result of this arrangement was that in relocation centers outside the evacuated zone, the military authorities exercised no control over ingress and egress "beyond that involved in the military police function of preventing those entries and departures not authorized by the Center Director." As to the four relocation centers located within the evacuated zone (Tule Lake, Manzanar, Colorado River, and Gila River), the control "reserved by the Commanding General [of the Western Defense Command] was limited to regulating the conditions of travel and movement through the area."

Because the WRA endeavored to use evacuee labor to construct and operate the relocation centers, further action by the military was required. The railheads serving the Colorado River, Tule Lake, Gila River, and Manzanar relocation centers were outside the center boundaries. To facilitate WRA policy, DeWitt, on September 21, 1942, authorized emergency employment of Japanese evacuees outside of the four War Relocation Authority Centers located within the evacuated areas." [15]