Tule Lake was the crucible for Japanese American resistance to internment during World War II. Thousands of Japanese Americans at Tule Lake met America’s betrayal of their hopes and dreams of a better life with anger, defiance and rejection. Tule Lake became the focal point of resistance in July 1943, when 12,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from other camps and sent to Tule Lake because they were declared disloyal. They were deemed so-called disloyal because they were unwilling to swear to the Loyalty Oath, which required them to be willing to serve in the US military, give unqualified allegiance to America, and forswear any allegiance to the Japanese Emperor. Tule Lake was wracked with conflict as soon as it became a segregation center. It was a complex, overcrowded community where tempers were short and frustrations were high. Following a major work strike, a mass show of internee support led to the imposition of martial law and an Army takeover of the camp. Martial law was declared just four months after Tule Lake became a segregation center. Resistance reached a peak at Tule Lake during 1944 and 1945 when 5,461 Japanese Americans renounced their citizenship and 1,327 former US citizens expatriated to defeated and war-torn Japan.

Tule Lake was initially one of ten camps formed to implement Executive Order 9066, which was issued in February 1942 shortly after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Executive Order 9066 required all Japanese Americans to be removed at gunpoint from the West Coast and placed into ten concentration camps. Initially, Japanese Americans who were sent to Tule Lake were relocated from western Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Tule Lake opened on May 26, 1942. It was the first War Relocation Authority camp to open. With a peak population of over 18,700, Tule Lake was the largest of the ten camps. It was the only camp to become a segregation center. It was the only camp ruled under martial law and occupied by the US Army. Nearly all Japanese Americans who renounced citizenship did so from Tule Lake, which was also the primary place to process people expatriated to Japan. Due to of all of the turmoil and strife, it was the last internment camp to close. Tule Lake closed on March 28, 1946.

Tule Lake Becomes a Segregation Center
Tule Lake became a segregation center to hold Japanese-Americans who were deemed so-called disloyal and therefore potential enemies of America because of their response to the infamous Loyalty Oath. The Loyalty Oath was intended to distinguish loyal American citizens among all internees from enemy alien supporters of Japan. The War Relocation Authority decided to segregate all of the so-called “Disloyals” at Tule Lake, in part because Tule Lake had the highest proportion of ‘No-No’s”, or persons who answered “No-No” to Questions 27 and 28 of the Loyalty Oath. Question 27 asked, “Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered? Question 28 asked, “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization? “No-No’s,” gave negative responses to Questions 27 and 28 or refused to answer the questions. The Japanese American Citizens League and many other Japanese-Americans harshly condemned the “No-No’s as troublemakers for their resistance in the belief that the situation demanded a strong showing of loyalty to America.

Martial Law Declared at Tule Lake
Poor living and working conditions, insufficient milk for children, and inadequate food and medical care sparked increasingly angry work stoppages, labor disputes, and demonstrations at Tule Lake. On November 1, 1943, a crowd estimated at 5,000 to 10,000 angry Japanese American internees surrounded the camp administration building in a show of support for farm workers on strike and to protest poor living conditions. The strikers and demonstrators temporarily imprisoned the camp administrators and guards in their administration buildings. The Army was placed on stand-by notice to move into the camp. Negotiations broke down. In response to the mounting tension and fear, a barbed wire fence was built separating the internees from the camp Administration buildings. On November 4, 1943 fights broke out between white camp employees and Japanese American internees and a camp officer was injured. The Army took over the camp with machine guns and tanks and martial law was declared. Martial law continued until January 15, 1944.

Tule Lake Inmates Renounce US Citizenship
Perhaps the most tragic and divisive issue was created when Public Law 405 was passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt on July 1, 1944. This law, directed at the Japanese Americans in Tule Lake, authored by the U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle, permitted an American citizen to renounce citizenship during time of war. Passage of this renunciation law began one of the saddest and least known chapters of Japanese American history. Initially, only 117 persons applied to renounce their citizenship. Ultimately, 5,461 people or 70% of all adult US citizens at Tule Lake renounced their citizenship. At Tule Lake, 73% of families had at least one member who gave up their citizenship. 1,327 of the renunciants, including young children, were expatriated to Japan. Most renunciants remained in the US as “Native American Aliens.”

Individual motives for renouncing citizenship varied widely. The renunciation law was announced when the end of internment was near. The segregation center was swept up in panic, anger and confusion. In the prison-like environment of Tule Lake, rumors, speculation, and a lack of trusted sources of information meant that making a rational decision about the future was extremely difficult. Second generation Nisei, both children and adults, described intense pressure from their non-citizen Issei parents to renounce their US citizenship as a strategy to keep the family together in case the Issei were purged and deported to Japan after the war. Others describe coercion by angry and aggressive pro-Japan groups that led them to renounce their citizenship. Some believed that Japan was winning the war, based on news from contraband short-wave radios, and dismissed allied victories as propaganda. Others viewed renouncing as a way to show one was “true Japanese.” Some young Nisei men, classified as enemy aliens, renounced their citizenship to avoid the draft. Many renunciants feared that they would eventually be released into hostile US communities with no money, no promise of income and no place to live. For people with no legal forums available to them, renouncing became a way to express anger and to protest their treatment. When the war ended, the tragedy of the renunciants became apparent when the Department of Justice prepared for the mass deportations of these stateless individuals who were betrayed by the country of their birth.

Of the 5,589 Japanese Americans who renounced, 5,461 were from Tule Lake. Some who renounced had little understanding of what they were giving up, or that they would become “enemy aliens” who could be legally expelled. 5,409 renunciants eventually sought restoration of their US citizenship, including many of the 1,327 people that expatriated to Japan. Most of the renunciants regained their citizenship and returned to the US primarily because of the heroic and largely unsung efforts of Wayne Collins, Esq., who devoted years of litigation to help former renunciants regain their citizenship. Collins successfully convinced the federal courts that the renunciants’ citizenship should be restored because the renunciations took place under extreme duress and amidst impossibly difficult circumstances. Congress and President Nixon repealed the renunciation law in 1971.

Renunciation remains extremely controversial today. Many Japanese Americans stigmatized and ostracized the No-No’s and Renunciants for their acts of resistance and defiance. Even though they were legally absolved by the U.S. Government, many former renunciants express a sense of being shunned and treated as though they did something wrong. Consequently, they have avoided talking about their life at Tule Lake, a subject area filled with powerful feelings of stigma and shame. To this day, some Renunciants and No-No’s have not informed their families of their acts of resistance at Tule Lake.

Agents from several Federal agencies escorting "suspected" Pro-Japan instigators to the train that will take them to Santa Fe.