War Relocation Authority (WRA)

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a U.S. government agency established during World War II to manage the internment of Japanese Americans. Following Executive Order 9066 in 1942, the WRA organized the forced removal and detention of thousands of Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes to internment camps. Its mission was to relocate and imprison those deemed a national security threat, despite many having committed no crime. The WRA operated these camps throughout the war, and its actions are now widely recognized as a violation of civil rights. The agency was disbanded in 1946 after the war ended.