The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 26, June 29, 2003, Article 7

ALIEN LAWS

  John Kleeberg writes: "I've been following the thread about
  the internship of the German aliens during the Second World
  War. Karen Ebel said that aliens have no constitutional rights.
  That is untrue.  Aliens, as a "discrete and insular minority,"
  have had their constitutional rights enforced robustly by the
  courts.  Some of the postings in this thread have further
  muddied the matter, implying that the position of the German
  and Italian aliens was identical to that of the Japanese-Americans.
  It was not.  The German and Italians who were interned were
  citizens of those countries.  Yes, some of their American spouses
  and children joined them, but that was voluntary.  The Otto
  Franke episode on the website you posted makes it clear:
  eventually the FBI realized that Otto Franke was not an alien
  and could not be interned.  The Japanese-Americans were US
  citizens who were interned because of their race; see Korematsu.
  It is because of this racially-based internment that Congress
  passed a law compensating the internees."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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