​On December 7, 1941, reeling from the attacks made by Japan at Pearl Harbor, the United States fell into a panic. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took action to relieve the paranoia of the nation, and in doing so people of Japanese descent living in the United States were persecuted for their ancestral lineage. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt put Executive Order 9066 into commission. This law called for the voluntary (self-directed) evacuation of all Japanese people, both citizens and aliens alike, to report to designated areas for relocation in the West.This Executive Order mandated the relocation of 110,000 people of Japanese descent.  For the most part, the Japanese were compliant with the orders and restrictions placed upon them, yet the Americans treated them uncivilly. Though the Japanese were submissive to Executive Order 9066, the question was raised whether or not it was constitutional for the President to utilize his power to issue such an order and intern the Japanese Americans.

President Roosevelt's initial reason for the creation of restrictive orders was not to punish or blame the Japanese Americans for the bombings at Pearl Harbor, but rather to keep both his nation and all of his citizens safe from foreign invaders. Through internment, espionage by the Japanese was kept to a minimum, and it limited the opportunity for the Japanese to gain control in the Pacific. Not only was Roosevelt concerned for the nation as a whole, but he was also worried about the persecution that the Japanese would face following the attacks. In preserving the nation, and keeping his citizens--including the Japanese Americans--safe from further discrimination, he placed them into "organized" camps. Few Japanese protested the Executive Order--except for two famous court cases that challenged the U.S. Constitution: Hirabayashi v. the U.S. and Korematsu v. the U.S.-- as many were already reeling from the blows of economic hardship and social ostracism.
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Even though President Roosevelt's intentions for interning the Japanese were valid, the treatment that the internees received was tremendously unjust. The Japanese were apprehensive to relocate as the government demanded that they sell their property and businesses. Unsure of when they would be released and allowed to return, they were to leave behind everything that they owned, except for the necessities they could carry in hand. The government did not offer to securely store their possessions, so the Japanese were left to distribute and sell their goods to the white Americans. ​​​​Stigmatized as disloyal and traitors to their own country, the Japanese were treated like prisoners. The majority of the Japanese voluntarily migrated to the West to be relocated into internment camps. Yet, they were checked like luggage, and had to wait days and weeks, living in stables, before they were moved to their new "homes." These new "homes" were not really "homes" at all.  Temperatures were at extremes in the West, living quarters were close, conditions were unsanitary, and some campsites were exposed to harmful radiation from nuclear testing.

The President did not provide the Japanese Americans with adequate support and living conditions, and in this sense, he failed his promise to his citizens. The Executive Order caused the Japanese to feel like prisoners of war to their own country. They gave up everything. They lost their real estate, their belongings, but more importantly, they lost their sense of place in America. The Japanese were stripped of their citizenship. The U.S. should have provided secure warehouses to store the possessions of the Japanese, it should have protected their land, and it should have made life easier and more viable in the camps. Due to the United States' inability to adequately provide accommodations for its citizens, the internment of the Japanese should be considered unconstitutional.