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TI: So I'm curious, you mentioned at Crystal City, the Peruvians. What did you think when you found out that Japanese Peruvians were taken from their homes in South America and brought to the United States and put in camps? I mean, what did you think when you first realized this was happening?

TN: They were scheduled for deportations. So there was a group in Santa Fe, the Peruvians, too, and they were brought to Terminal Island, so Mr. Collins asked me to come down to Los Angeles and check Terminal Island every day so that, to see that they didn't deport them. We filed a suit for habeas corpus, we filed a suit for a hearing. That was a gimmick just to stall the government from deporting these people. And then all the suit of people in Texas, someplace in Texas, we filed a suit. And then the group was sent to Seabrook Farm after that, so we filed some suit in Philadelphia. We ran around all over the United States. [Laughs]

TI: 'Cause you had to go wherever they went.

TN: Yeah.

TI: But going back to the Peruvians, Japanese Peruvians in Santa Fe and Crystal City, did it surprise you to find them?

TN: Oh, yeah. We were surprised to find them. They were kidnapped from, by the U.S. FBI was in South America, and they picked them up, and they brought them to the United States.

TI: Do you recall any comments that Mr. Collins made, or any discussion the two of you had about the government kidnapping Peruvians?

TN: Well, he made the interpretation, he said, "They were kidnapped," you know. Not really removed, they were kidnapped. Because the FBI didn't have any rights, authority to be in South America to pick them up. And the Peruvian government was hostile to some of these groups. They wanted to get rid of them, take their business over or something like that. That was a pretty tragic thing.

TI: Yeah, it just seemed like this gross injustice. As an interviewer, I'm not supposed to share my opinions, but it just astounds me that this happened. And I was curious, when you and Mr. Collins first came upon this, what you thought.

TN: Well, we were amazed, you know, how our Justice Department arm went into South America, and they influenced all the politics over there.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.