Why were Americans so afraid of Japanese-American people that they felt the need

Question:Why were they so afraid and why did they send them to camps?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Why were they so afraid and why did they send them to camps?

Not the Americans dearie,,,The American Government.
It was done as a preemptive move just in case there were any Axis sympathisers among the general populus. There was a high risk of subversive activity within our borders and our government was dedicated to bringing the war to the South Pacific rather than allowing it to occur on American soil. There's a lot to it. You should read up on it.

They feared loyalty to their "homeland" would inspire them to do things to help Japan win. Good luck and God Bless.

Because the country was threatened and the government decided to do what they felt was best to protect the well-being of as many citizens as possible. I'm personally torn on this decision.

if you know this happened, you should prob also know the reasons. It was pursuant to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. If you want to make a comparison, it would be similar to the reason why there is a lot of racism and fear of Middle Easterners after 911. People were afraid after the bombing and start of the World War and feared siege or treason from within the country. I'm not saying it was right by any means, but they did it in the interest of self-preservation. They thought with all the Japanese-americans in camps, they could reduce the chances of another attack.

There was a great fear at the time that were Nisei culture allowed to flourish unhindered, future generation of American youth might someday be seduced by the Cult of Pikachu. Clearly the attempt to stem this tide through unconstitutional internment of US citizens failed and today we see the result in the mass rates of anime infections amongst our young.

The positive side of this sorry episode in history though, is that President Cheney realized that through similarly unconstitutional treatment of suspected evil-doers, he could achieve an unprecedented reduction in the esteem with which America was held around the world! And he was right!

its how we are we act welcoming to everyone until something goes down then we get hitlerlike with other groups watch it will happen with American Muslims soon

There was a fear of spies and sabotage, they were identifiable and there was considerable angst against the Japanese for Pearl Harbor. That was a different time and few of us can relate to the situation.

Supposedly because the US could not determined their loyalty. Because the Japanese conquered many nations in Asia and the Pacific, they were deemed a major threat to the world. Many people felt that you could not determine whether the Japanese in the US were loyal to the US or Japan.

It's kind of like electing Obama president now, you have to have strong questions of where there loyalty actually is. They did not trust people who were born in Japan, if they were more loyal to Japan or America, just like Obamas friend saying God D*** America, and we should help Palestine, it makes you wonder if they actually want to hurt the country.

Americans who lived in Hawaii and along the West Coast of the mainland were fearful that the Nisei (first generation Japanese - Americans) would feel sympathy for Japan and try helping out their military in case of an invasion.
The same thing was going to happen to all Americans of Italian,German,and Irish descent,but the plan changed. It was the Nisei who ended up getting the shaft.