Presidential Proclamation 2525 — Alien Enemies — Japanese
WHEREAS it is provided by Section 21 of Title 50 of the United States Code [11 F. C. A., tit.
50, sect. 21] as follows: “Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and
any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated,
attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or
government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens,
denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years
and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be
liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies. The President
is authorized in any such event, by his proclamation thereof, or other public act, to direct the
conduct to be observed, on the part of the United States, toward the aliens who become so
liable; the manner and degree of the restraint to which they shall be subject and in what
cases, and upon what security their residence shall be permitted, and to provide for the
removal of those who, not being permitted to reside within the United States, refuse or
neglect to depart therefrom; and to establish any other regulations which are found necessary
in the premises and for the public safety.”
AND WHEREAS by sections 22, 23, and 24 of title 50 of the United States Code [11 F. C. A.,
tit. 50, sect. 22 to 24] further provision is made relative to alien enemies:
PROCLAMATION
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, as PRESIDENT of the United States and as
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby make public
proclamation to all whom it may concern that an invasion has been perpetrated upon the
territory of the United States by Empire of Japan.
CONDUCT TO BE OBSERVED BY ALIEN ENEMIES
And, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the
United States and the said sections of the United States Code, I do hereby further proclaim
and direct that the conduct to be observed on the part of the United States toward all
natives, citizens, denizens or subjects of Empire of Japan being of the age of fourteen years
and upwards who shall be within the United States or within any territories in any way subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States and not actually naturalized, who for the purpose of
this Proclamation and under such sections of the United States Code are termed alien
enemies, shall be as follows:
All alien enemies are enjoined to preserve the peace toward the United States and to refrain
from crime against public safety, and from violating the laws of the United States and of the
States and Territories thereof; and to refrain from actual hostility or giving information, aid
or comfort to the enemies of the United States or interfering by word or deed with the
defense of the United States or political processes and public opinions thereof; and to comply
strictly with the regulations which are hereby or which may be from time to time
promulgated by the President.
All alien enemies shall be liable to restraint, or to give security, or to remove and depart
from the United States in the manner prescribed by sections 23 and 24 of title 50 of the
United States Code, and as prescribed in the regulations duly promulgated by the President.
DUTIES AND AUTHORITY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE SECRETARY OF WAR
And, pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby charge the Attorney General with the
duty of executing all the regulations hereinafter prescribed regarding the conduct of alien
enemies within the continental limits of the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and
Alaska, and the Secretary of War with the duty of executing the regulations which are
hereinafter prescribed and which may be hereafter adopted regarding the conduct of alien
enemies in the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippine Islands. Each of them is
specifically directed to cause the apprehension of such alien enemies as in the judgment of
each are subject to apprehension or deportation under such regulations. In carrying out such
regulations within the continental United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Alaska,
the Attorney General is authorized to utilize such agents, agencies, officers and departments
of the United States and of the several states, territories, dependencies, municipalities
thereof and of the District of Columbia as he may select for the purpose. Similarly the
Secretary of War in carrying out such regulations in the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and
the Philippine Islands is authorized to use such agents, agencies, officers and departments of
the United States and of the territories, dependencies and municipalities thereof as he may
select for the purpose. All such agents, agencies, officers and departments are hereby
granted full authority for all acts done by the them in the execution of such regulations when
acting by direction of the Attorney General or the Secretary of War, as the case may be.
REGULATIONS
And, pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby declare and establish the following
regulations which I find necessary in the premises and for the public safety:
(1) No alien enemy shall enter or be found within the Canal Zone and no alien
enemy shall enter or leave the Hawaiian Islands or the Philippine Islands except
under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall from time to time
prescribe. Any alien enemy found in the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands, or
the Philippine Islands in violation of any such regulations and any alien enemy
who enters or is found within any restricted area to be hereafter prescribed by
the Military Commanders of each territory in the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian
Islands, and the Philippine Islands, may be immediately apprehended by
authority of the Military Governors in each such territory, or if there be no
Military Governor, then by authority of the Secretary of War, and detained
until it is determined, under the regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary
of War, whether any such alien enemy should be permanently interned
following which such alien enemy shall be released, released on bond, or
permanently interned, as the case may be.
(2) The exercise of the power to prescribe restricted areas and the power of
arrest, detention and internment of alien enemies in the Canal Zone, the
Hawaiian Islands or the Philippine Islands shall be under the jurisdiction of the
Military Commanders of each such territory, each acting under such regulations
as the Secretary of War shall hereafter prescribe.
(3) No alien enemy shall enter or leave Alaska, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands
except under such regulations as the Attorney General shall from time to time
prescribe. Any alien enemy found in Alaska, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands in
violation of any such regulations and any alien enemy who enters or is found
within any restricted area to be hereafter prescribed by the Military
Commanders of each such territory in Alaska, and Puerto Rico and by the Navy
Commander in the Virgin Islands, shall be immediately apprehended by
authority of the Attorney General acting through the United States Attorney in
each such territory and detained until it is determined, under the regulations
to be prescribed by the Attorney General, whether any such alien enemy shall
either be released, released on bond, or permanently interned, as the case
may be.
(4) The Military Commanders in Alaska and Puerto Rico and the Naval
Commander in the Virgin Islands shall have the power to prescribe restricted
areas.
(5) No alien enemy shall have in his possession, custody or control at any time
or place or use or operate any of the following enumerated articles:
a. Firearms.
b. Weapons or implements of war or component parts thereof.
c. Ammunition.
d. Bombs.
e. Explosives or material used in the manufacture of explosives.
f. Short-wave radio receiving sets.
g. Transmitting sets.
h. Signal devices.
i. Codes or ciphers.
j. Cameras.
k. Papers, documents or books in which there may be invisible
writing; photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map or graphical
representation of any military or naval installations or
equipment or of any arms, ammunition, implements of war,
device or thing used or intended to be used in the combat
equipment of the land or naval forces of the United States or any
military or naval post, camp or station.
All such property found in the possession of any alien enemy in violation of the
foregoing regulations shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture.
(6) No alien enemy shall undertake any air flight or ascend into the air in any
airplane, aircraft or balloon of any sort whether owned governmentally,
commercially or privately, except that travel by an alien enemy in an airplane
or aircraft may be authorized by the Attorney General, or his representative,
or the Secretary of War, or his representative, in their respective jurisdictions,
under such regulations as they shall prescribe.
(7) Alien enemies deemed dangerous to the public peace or safety of the
United States by the Attorney General or the Secretary of War, as the case may
be, are subject to summary apprehension. Such apprehension shall be made in
the continental United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by
such duly authorized officer of the Department of Justice as the Attorney
General may determine. In the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and the
Philippine Islands, such arrests shall be made by the Military Commanders in
each such territory by authority of the respective Military Governors thereof,
and if there be no Military Governor, then by authority of the Secretary of War.
Alien enemies arrested shall be subject to confinement in such place of
detention as may be directed by the officers responsible for the execution of
these regulations and for the arrest, detention and internment of alien enemies
in each case, or in such other places of detention as may be directed from time
to time by the Attorney General, with respect to the continental United States,
Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and by the Secretary of War with
respect to the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippine Islands, and
there confined until he shall have received such permit as the Attorney General
or the Secretary of War with respect to the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands
and Philippine Islands shall prescribe.
(8) No alien enemy shall land in, enter or leave or attempt to land in, enter or
leave the United States, except under the regulation prescribed by the
President in his Proclamation dated November 14, 1941, and the regulations
promulgated thereunder or any proclamation or regulation promulgated
hereafter.
(9) Whenever the Attorney General of the United States, with respect to the
continental United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, or the
Secretary of War, with respect to the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and the
Philippine Islands, deems it to be necessary, for the public safety and
protection, to exclude alien enemies from a designated area, surrounding any
fort, camp, arsenal, airport, landing field, aircraft stations, electric or other
power plant, hydroelectric dam, government naval vessel, navy yard, pier,
dock, dry dock, or any factory, foundry, plant, workshop, storage yard, or
warehouse for the manufacture of munitions or implements of war or any thing
of any kind, nature or description for the use of the Army, the Navy or any
country allied or associated with the United States, or in any wise connected
with the national defense of the United States, or from any locality in which
residence by any alien enemy shall be found to constitute a danger to the
public peace and safety of the United States or from a designated area
surrounding any canal or any wharf, pier, dock or dry dock used by ships or
vessels of any designated tonnage engaged in foreign or domestic trade, or of
any warehouse, shed, elevator, railroad terminal, depot or yard or other
terminal, storage or transfer facility, then no alien enemy shall be found within
such area or the immediate vicinity thereof. Any alien enemy found within any
such area or the immediate vicinity thereof prescribed by the Attorney General
or the Secretary of War, as the case may be, pursuant to the regulations, shall
be subject to summary apprehension and to be dealt with as hereinabove
prescribed.
(10) With respect to the continental United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and
the Virgin Islands, an alien enemy shall not change his place of abode or
occupation or otherwise travel or move from place to place without full
compliance with any such regulations as the Attorney General of the United
States may, from time to time, make and declare; and the Attorney General is
hereby authorized to make and declare, from time to time, such regulations
concerning the movements of alien enemies within the continental United
States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as he may deem necessary in
the premises and for the public safety.
(11) With respect to the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippine
Islands, an alien enemy shall not change his place of abode or occupation or
otherwise travel or move from place to place without full compliance with any
such regulations as the Secretary of War may, from time to time, make and
declare; and the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to make and declare,
from time to time, such regulations concerning the movements of alien
enemies within the Canal Zone, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Philippine Islands
as he may deem necessary in the premises and for the public safety.
(12) No alien enemy shall enter or be found in or upon any highway, waterway,
airway, railway, railroad, subway, public utility, building, place or thing not
open and accessible to the public generally, and not generally used by the
public.
(13) No alien enemy shall be a member or an officer of, or affiliated with, any
organization, group or assembly hereafter designated by the Attorney General,
nor shall any alien enemy advocate, defend or subscribe to the acts, principles
or policies thereof, attend any meetings, conventions or gatherings thereof or
possess or distribute any literature, propaganda or other writings or
productions thereof.
This proclamation and the regulations herein contained shall extend and apply
to all land and water, continental or insular, in any way within the jurisdiction
of the United States.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-one, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the one hundred and sixty-sixth.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT