Army base used for WWII Japanese internment now nation's largest ICE detention center

[BumRushDaShow]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: USA Today

Aug. 23, 2025, 8:44 a.m. ET


FORT BLISS, Texas – Americans of Japanese heritage say they hear echoes of their families' forced internment in the Trump administration's newest immigrant detention site.

Homeland Security officials say President Donald Trump's sweeping mass deportation campaign requires a build-up of detention centers to bridge the gap between arrests and removals. They've turned to the U.S. military and private contractors to get the job done, including erecting the nation's largest immigrant detention site on Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

But stewards of Japanese American history, including the children and grandchildren of those who were held in detention, are criticizing the use of Fort Bliss and the plans to expand immigrant detention on American military bases. Fort Bliss was a "cog" in the United States Japanese internment machine, said Brian Niiya, a historian and content director at Densho, a nonprofit that chronicles Japanese American internment.

Niiya's own grandfather, the managing editor of a Japanese language newspaper, was arrested the night of Japan's Pearl Harbor attack, on Dec. 7, 1941, in Honolulu and held in six different internment camps over the next two years. "It’s important to look to this past to maybe try to understand what’s going on in the present and what the end results could be," he said.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/08/23/texas-army-base-japanese-internment-ice-detention/85767850007/

[chowder66]

1. I hate this administration.

[Karasu]

15. Alas, it's a regime. They aren't acting like an "administration" in the slightest and haven't been since Day 1.

[Paladin]

2. "Bliss is ignorance." (Old military saying about Ft. Bliss.)

Glad to see the comparisons to the WWII internment camps.

[Bayard]

3. Might as well bring back Andersonville then

[JustAnotherGen]

5. That tracks

They want to foment outrage.

Let's keep our heads down and keep plotting.

[IronLionZion]

6. "You can't erase history" by the same folks who want to repeat the worst parts of history

[2na fisherman]

7. George Santayana Quote

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Trumpism aims to repeat the worst parts of history and celebrate it.

[flashman13]

9. May I reiterate, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

[twodogsbarking]

8. Going full circle and starting around again. We should send mirrors to Repubs so they can see who the real enemy is. Is

[kiranon]

10. Ft Bliss is a designated Toxic Waste Site

It me even be a Super Fund Site. Husband served there many years ago. Expect there may be claims made for putting large numbers of people in concentration camps there. May be a very good reason NOT to put anyone there.

[BidenRocks]

11. Magats should review J6.

Only with them being attacked with the full might of the civilian militias.

They must realize they are guilty of destroying America and will face Nuremberg consequences.

This is deadly serious. Our military has a choice to defend our Constitution or be branded as complicit.

Our Cities! Stop this adherence to illegal orders!

Will they agree on air strikes and armor like Russia?

[irisblue]

12. That is repulsive

[surfered]

13. Auschwitz wasn't available?

[Karasu]

14. ...You can't make this shit up. Any and all "subtlety" has left the fucking building.

[Omaha Steve]

16. AFTER a review by forum hosts LOCKING

This is a feature story. Not LBN.