To provide for the preparation of a Government report detailing injustices suffered by German Americans during
World War II, and a formal acknowledgment of such
injustices by the President.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wartime Violation of German American Civil Liberties Act of 2022’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) During World War II, 300,000 German-born United States residents and their families were designated as potentially dangerous ‘‘enemy aliens’’.
(2) Pursuant to Government directives, the freedom of German Americans was curtailed through restriction, registration, arrest, exclusion, internment, exchange, and deportation.

 (3) Over 11,000 German Americans were held in over 50 camps throughout the United States, including Ellis Island, the largest of which was in Crystal City, Texas.
(4) Among those interned were families and children, including Jews of German heritage and naturalized and American-born citizens.

(5) Some remained interned for up to 3 years after the conclusion of World War II, with the Crystal City facility closing on February 27, 1948.
(6) In conjunction with United States programs, some Latin American nations deported to the United States thousands of residents of German, Italian, and Japanese ancestry to likewise be interned.
(7) German Americans, including American24 born minor children, were deported to Germany where they were transported in winter in unheated boxcars and imprisoned in camps, notably Hohenasperg.

(8) American and Latin-American internees of European descent supplied persons to exchange for United States citizens held by the Axis Powers during World War II.

(9) Many German Americans served in the Armed Forces and sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.
(10) The wartime policies of the United States Government were devastating to the German-American community, individuals, and families, and the effects are still being experienced.
(11) Many German American former child internees later served the United States in the armed forces, including career veterans.

(12) During the same period, the United States Government refused to allow Jewish and other refu19 gees fleeing persecution or genocide in Europe entry to the United States.
(13) Infringements upon the liberties of similarly interned Japanese Americans were formally recognized by President Reagan in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, of Japanese Latin Americans in a Department of Justice settlement following the case of Mochizuki v. United States in 1999, and of Italian Americans by President Clinton in the War-time Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act in 2000.

 (14) According to the 2019 American Community Survey of the United States Census Bureau, there are over 43,000,000 people in the United States reporting German ancestry, more than for any other group.
(15) The experiences of German Americans and German Latin Americans have not been thoroughly reviewed, nor properly acknowledged.
(16) February 27, 2023, will mark the 75th anniversary of the closing of the Crystal City camp. German American internees were obliged to break down the tents and pack them on trucks nearly three years after Germany’s surrender.
(17) The United States Government should conduct a review to fully assess and acknowledge these actions.

(18) Time is of the essence for the completion of an official review because of the increasing danger of destruction and loss of relevant documents and the advanced age of those affected by the policies of the United States Government.

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘World War II’’ refers to the period beginning September 1, 1939, and ending December 31, 1948.
(2) The term ‘‘German Americans’’ refers to United States citizens and resident aliens of German ancestry, including Jews.

 (3) The term ‘‘German Latin Americans’’ refers to persons of German ancestry residing in a Latin American nation during World War II, including Jews.
(4) The term ‘‘Latin American nation’’ refers to any nation in Central America, South America, or the Caribbean.
16 SEC. 4. REPORT.

 The Attorney General shall conduct a comprehensive review of the wartime treatment by the United States Government of German Americans and German Latin Americans during World War II pursuant to United States laws and directives, including the Alien Enemies Acts (50 U.S.C. 21 et seq.), Presidential Proclamations 2526, 2655, 2662, and 2685, Executive Orders 9066 and 9095, and any directive of the United States Government pursuant to these and other pertinent laws, proclamations, or executive orders, and not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act shall submit to the Congress a report that documents the findings of such review, and shall include the following—

 (1) the names of the German Americans who were taken into custody in the initial roundup following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and prior to the United States declaration of war against Germany;

 (2) the names of all German Americans and German Latin Americans who were taken into custody;
(3) the names of all German Americans and German Latin Americans who were interned and the location where they were interned, including all temporary detention and long-term internment facilities in the United States that were used to detain or in- tern German Americans and German Latin Americans during World War II;
(4) the names of all German Americans who were ordered to move out of designated areas under the United States Army’s ‘‘Individual Exclusion Program’’;
(5) the names of all German Americans who were arrested for curfew, contraband, or other violations pursuant to the laws and directives outlined above in section 3;
(6) the names of German Americans and German Latin Americans who died while in World War II detention facilities and where they were buried;

 (7) the names of children of German Americans and German Latin Americans who were born in World War II detention facilities;
(8) the nations from which German Latin Americans were brought to the United States;

 (9) documentation of Federal Bureau of Investigation raids on the homes of German Americans;
(10) a list of civil liberties infringements suffered by German Americans during World War II as a result of the laws and directives outlined above in section 3, and by German Latin Americans as a result of Department of State programs, including internment, hearings without benefit of counsel, illegal searches and seizures, travel restrictions, enemy alien registration requirements, employment restrictions, confiscation of property, and forced evacuation from homes;
(11) a list of American companies by which internees were employed, and the terms and type of such employment;
(12) the ships that transported German Latin Americans to the United States and their departure and disembarkation ports, the locations where German Americans and German Latin Americans were exchanged for persons held in European Axis nations, and the ships that transported them to Europe and their departure and disembarkation ports;
(13) a review of the participation of German Americans in the United States Armed Forces, including those who were, or whose families were, excluded, interned, repatriated, or exchanged during World War II;
(14) an explanation of whether German Americans were subjected to civil liberties infringements as a result of the laws and directives outlined above in section 3, and if so, why other German Americans were not including the underlying rationale of the decision of the United States Government to develop the programs and policies described in this Act, the information the United States Government received or acquired suggesting these programs and policies were necessary, and the perceived benefit of implementing such programs and policies; and
(15) a review of the wartime restrictions on German Americans to determine how civil liberties can be better protected during national emergencies.

1 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the story of the treatment of German Americans and German Latin Americans during World War II needs to be told in order to acknowledge that these events happened, to remember those whose lives were unjustly disrupted, to help repair the damage to the German-American community, and to discourage the occurrence of similar injustices and violations of civil liberties in the future;

 (2) Federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the National Endowment of the Humanities should support projects such as—
(A) conferences, seminars, and lectures to heighten awareness of this unfortunate chapter in the Nation’s history; and

 (B) documentaries to allow this issue to be presented to the American public to raise awareness;

 (3) the National Archives and Records Administration should create a comprehensive online database of documents related to the United States Government’s wartime treatment of German Americans and German Latin Americans during World War II;

 (4) an independent, volunteer advisory committee should be established comprised of representatives of German-American organizations, historians, and other interested individuals to assist in the compilation, research, study, review, and dissemination of information concerning the treatment of German Americans;
(5) the National Park Service should coordinate with other appropriate entities to erect plaques for each of the internment sites, including temporary, permanent, civilian, and military sites;
(6) after the completion of the report required by this Act, financial support should be provided for the education of the American public through the use of media suited for public broadcast; and
(7) the President should, on behalf of the United States Government, formally acknowledge that these events during World War II represented a fundamental injustice against German Americans and German Latin Americans.