2019 budget proposal eliminates funding for Japanese American Confinement Sites grants

President Donald Trump’s “budget proposal unveiled the middle of February, includes the elimination of funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites …  Grants Program,” the Japanese American Citizens League said in a statement. “The JACS Grant program, authorized in 2006, has provided over $21 million in grants to 163 grantees representing states, counties, local governments, and non-profit organizations. Funds may be used to support the research, interpretation, and preservation of Japanese American confinement sites.”

The U.S. government imprisoned some 120,000 persons of Japanese descent — more than two-thirds of them American citizens — in concentration camps during World War II after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

The grant program “was initially authorized for up to $38 million, which means there remains close to $17 million still available to support the ongoing preservation of our Japanese American history.”

The announcement was made one week before the 76th anniversary of the wartime incarceration of Nikkei in concentration camps.

In a separate statement, the JACL listed ways people can speak out against Trumps’ purported fiscal year 2019 budget proposal cuts for the program:

“Contact your Representatives.

Visit callyourrep.co to find your Representative and how to contact them. Send them a postcard, give them a call, let them know what you think! …”

“Write an op-ed, tell a friend!

Share your story or your family’s story about why these programs are important for you.

Want to do more? Call the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus at (202) 225-5464. …”

The Japanese American Service Committee said in a statement that they also urged people to “contact their congressional leaders to encourage the continued funding of the National Park Service’s … Japanese American Confinement Sites … grants in the current federal budget proposals.”