The Japanese Alien Land Act was barely enforced until war broke out

Evidence

In 1913 Congress passed the Alien Land Act, which prevented noncitizens from purchasing or leasing land, specifically targeting Japanese immigrants. However “one observer reported in 1934 that the law was virtually a dead letter in many if not all parts of the state. This condition continued until shortly after the outbreak of war with Japan in December, 1941.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 783

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why did enforcement surge exactly at the war’s outbreak? Suggests anti-Japanese sentiment, not legally-motivated enforcement, drove dispossession.
• XREF: connects to: The Alien Land Act was barely enforced until Pearl Harbor — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 783; War on Terror rhetoric recycled the enemy-alien logic of Japanese internment.
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: The Alien Land Act was barely enforced until Pearl Harbor — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 783; War on Terror rhetoric recycled the enemy-alien logic of Japanese internment.

Broader Connections

• The Alien Land Act was barely enforced until Pearl Harbor #corroborates (0.98) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 783