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As news of the 442nd RCT's exploits filtered back to the United States, there was a noticeable lessening of public hostility toward Japanese Americans. This was especially true in Texas when details of the Lost Battalion's rescue became known. But for a large group of Japanese imprisoned in three special camps in Texas, a more sobering situation prevailed. Although convicted of no crime, the U.S. government considered these Japanese to be "potentially dangerous enemy aliens." Often this meant nothing more than having been a community leader before the war or having taught Japanese children how to speak Japanese. Whatever the rationale for confining these individuals, the reality of their predicament was that they exercised little control over their own lives.
The three camps in Texas were located at Kenedy, Seagoville, and Crystal City and were known officially as "internment camps." Not to be confused with the ten relocation camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during the war, the Texas internment camps were run by the Department of Justice and were generally much smaller than the relocation centers. Another important difference was that, although the vast majority of the internees were Japanese, the camps in Texas also housed "potentially dangerous" Germans as well as a few Italians.
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