<Begin Segment 29>

AI: Well, so also, at, in the meantime, what happened with your sisters and brothers, because they were... also had the same status that you did, you were all brought in and labeled "illegal aliens"?

AS: Right.

AI: What did they do?

AS: Well, they, when they sent me to Canada, they, they sent all of us to Canada at the same time.

AI: Oh, so you went with your family, your whole family?

AS: Yeah. Well, all the kids. Except, except one sister because she was married to one of the "no-nos" from Tule Lake and he was a citizen at that time so she was afraid if she went to Canada she might not be able to come back, so, so she didn't go.

AI: But the rest of you --

AS: But the rest of us all went through the, the same...

AI: And so when you all, you and your other sisters and brothers -- except for the one sister -- all came back into the United States and were then legally entering the United States from Canada. And then what happened to, to those sisters and brothers? They then received their permanent residency also?

AS: Just like, just like myself. They received the permanent residency right away, but... well, I don't know what happened to the citizen-, I don't know when they got, they received their citizenship.

AI: Maybe different times?

AS: Different times, yeah. 'Cause I was the only one that went in 1970.

AI: And what about your parents? Because they were also still illegal aliens?

AS: No, but my mother, in 1952, when they changed the law for Japanese citizens, she received her permanent residency then.

AI: Oh, she did?

AS: Yeah.

AI: And what about your father?

AS: Well, my father, too, yeah. My father and my mother, they both received their permanent residency retroactive. In fact, they received theirs retroactive to the day we came in.

AI: Was there...

AS: So, and here, and not only that, but they didn't even leave the country and received theirs.

AI: So your parents, they, you had all come in on the same boat, you had all been assigned illegal status, but in 1952 your parents got this different treatment. They were given permanent U.S. residency retroactive to the day they originally were brought to the United States.

AS: Right. Not only my parents, but there were, I think there were a hundred and fifty that received theirs retroactive, total.

AI: Did you get any explanation why you and your brothers and sisters didn't have the same treatment?

AS: No, just a hundred and fifty, and the rest of 'em didn't. So there's another, at least another hundred and fifty that didn't receive retroactive.

AI: Oh. So that's another mystery --

AS: Right.

AI: -- as to why some received this treatment and others did not. Oh. So then your, all of you, except for your one sister who was married then, were, had your permanent residency.

AS: But my sister, after we got ours, I don't know how many months later, or a year later, she went to, she went to one of those classes for, for Isseis, you know, to, for citizenship. And she and her husband went to one of those and they got the citizenship through them. In Chicago.

AI: So they become naturalized citizens, then.

AS: Yeah, right.

AI: Oh, that's interesting. Well, so it sounds like a very complicated situation and each person might have been treated differently.

AS: Right.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.