Japanese Americans lead opposition to turn ex-prison into ICE detention center

Hundreds of Japanese Americans and allies gathered at Don Biddle Community Park in Dublin, California, on Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s proposal to convert a former federal women’s prison into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

About the facility: The former Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin was closed in early December 2023 following a class action lawsuit over widespread sexual and physical abuse of inmates. Subsequently, the Bureau of Prisons reached a historic $115 million settlement with 103 female victims of sexual abuse at the facility.

Though ICE officials toured the facility in February, a bureau spokesperson recently stated there are no current plans to reopen it. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat representing East Bay, vows to continue efforts to ensure that the facility is “never reopened in any capacity.”

Why they’re protesting: Japanese American protesters are connecting today’s immigration policies to their community’s discriminatory and unjust incarceration during World War II. At the time, more than 125,000 Japanese Americans were detained in incarceration camps following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s issuance of Executive Order 9066 and invoking of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Trump has invoked the same 1798 law for modern deportation efforts, specifically in March to target Venezuelan immigrants. Saturday’s protest featured taiko drumming and displays of origami cranes, which are traditional symbols of peace.

What they’re saying: Survivors and descendants shared powerful testimony linking past and present injustices. “I’m here because the Japanese were interned, my father was interned, and it can’t happen again, but it is happening, it’s shameful,” Lynn Yamashita told KGO at the protest.

Satsuki Ina, 81, who was born at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, emphasized the community’s responsibility. “We don’t want to be a part of that again. So we are showing up where we can. We’re raising our voices,” she told KPIX.

Meanwhile, taiko performer Gregory Wada connected his grandmother’s farming background in the Central Valley to current immigrant workers, telling KTVU, “That’s going to live for generations, that pain.”