America's Japanese Hostages

Connell uncovers a little known World War II top secret program. The United States demanded that Latin American governments deport—or allow the United States to take—anyone of Japanese ancestry and place them in camps in Texas and New Mexico. The plan was to trade them for American civilians held by the Japanese.

Although Peru was the most enthusiastic participant in this program, expelling nearly 5,000 Peruvian citizens of Japanese ancestry, other Latin American countries participated as well. Connell traces the reasons for prejudice and discrimination, the specific programs, and the post-war efforts of those held in American relocation camps to secure restitution. Through the wide use of oral interviews as well as documents, Connell shows the very human side of this effort, which in many ways parallels the discrimination Americans of Japanese ancestry faced during the war. This book provides a thorough and intriguing story of interest to general readers as well as scholars, students, and other researchers involved with World War II and Latin American history.