Seagoville Enemy Alien Detention Site, WWII
Seagoville, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Seagoville Enemy Alien Detention Station, World War II Shocked by the December 7, 1941, Empire of Japan attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii that propelled the U.S. into World War II, one U.S. Government response was the incarceration of more than 120,000 Issei (first generation, Japanese immigrants) and Nisei (second generation, U.S. citizens) in War Relocation Authority camps across the country. Through separate confinement programs, thousands of Japanese, German, and Italian citizens in the U.S. (and in many cases, their U.S. citizen relatives), classified as Enemy Aliens, were detained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) through its enemy alien control unit, and, in Latin America, by the Department of State’s Special War Problems Division. Enemy aliens were held until paroled or exchanged for U.S. and Allied citizens seized overseas by Axis nations. Texas hosted three DOJ confinement sites, administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at Crystal City, Kenedy, and here, as well as two U.S. Army Temporary Detention Stations at Fort Sam Houston and Fort Bliss. Next to historic Ellis Island (New York), the most aesthetically attractive INS confinement site was arguably at Seagoville. Originally built in 1941, as a women’s reformatory, Seagoville Enemy Alien Detention Station was transferred from the DOJ’s Bureau Of Prisons (BOP) to the INS on April 1, 1942. The internment camp held German and Italian childless couples and single women detained in the U.S. or Latin America. The site included a hospital, auditorium-school, industry and service buildings, and 352 dorm-esque living quarters. Japanese Latin Americans were held in a “colony” of 50 Victory Huts. In 1943, the population peaked at 650 internees and 120 staff. The detention station closed in May 1945, returning to the BOP which has administered the site as a prison since the end of the war. Texas in World War II -- 2013
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government not only relocated more than 120,000 Japanese Americans but also detained thousands of German, Italian, Japanese, and Latin American "enemy aliens" through the Justice Department and State Department. Originally built in 1941 as a women's reformatory, the Seagoville site was transferred to the immigration service in 1942 and held German and Italian couples and single women, plus Japanese Latin Americans housed in a "colony" of 50 Victory Huts. By 1943 its population peaked at 650 internees before it closed in May 1945 and reverted to a federal prison.
Why it matters
Seagoville is a tangible reminder that wartime incarceration in America reached beyond the West Coast relocation camps to sweep up immigrants and even Latin American nationals, raising enduring questions about liberty and due process in wartime.
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Related events
- · Attack on Pearl Harbor
- · World War II enemy alien internment
Themes & tags
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