FILE - A student at Granada High School, left, explains the history of Camp Amache to Rep. Ken Buck at the campsite in Granada, Colorado, in a file image dated May 6, 2021. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) WASHINGTON - A former World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans is now a step closer to becoming a national historic site eligible for additional preservation assistance.The U.S.
Senate voted unanimously on Monday to pass the Amache National Historic Site Act, which would establish the Amache site near the town of Granada, Colorado, as part of the National Park System.
The legislation was introduced by Colorado Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet last year. U.S. Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Joe Neguse, D-Colo., introduced a companion bill to the House, which also passed 416-2 in July. "Interning Japanese-Americans at Camp Amache is a dark stain on our past," Hickenlooper said in a statement, celebrating the Senate’s passage of the bill. "Elevating Amache to a National Historic Site will preserve the survivors’ stories and ensure that history never repeats."Amache, which is less than one square mile, was one of 10 Japanese American internment facilities in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Arkansas and Colorado following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. "The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast.
In February 1942, just two months later, President Roosevelt, as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066 that resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans," the National Archives states online.