Their perspective was that with the anti-Japanese hysteria after Pearl Harbor, and the uncertainty people felt about the loyalty of Japanese in this country, the internment was not irrational, perhaps even reasonable. The also said the Japanese were a lot safer in the camps than they'd have been out loose.
I later worked with a Japanese-American who had been yanked from college at UCLA into one of the camps and who later served in the Niesi battalion in Italy. Wounded, decorated for valor. His comments on the internment camps were illuminating. He said that until he got to the camps (which he said sucked, BTW), he'd never met so many Japanese-Americans who he was worried about their loyalty to America. He said knowing what he knew about them from contact in the camps, if he'd been making the decision, he'd have rounded up a lot of 'em and put 'em on a freighter bound for the Far East. He said that, of course, the round-eyes couldn't tell who was who, so, on the whole, he thought the round-up was reasonable. Interesting perspective.
No doubt there was some truth to this. I think, however, it was used to ease the conscience of those who wanted to implement the policy. But, those were different times, pre Civil Rights movement, hopefully we are a little more enlightened these days.
I'm surprised to hear about an internment camp on the West Coast, I thought they moved them more in country. Did I get that right?
The view of many of the internees, as the veteran relates, are not too surprising. If I had been locked up in an internment camp, I'd be feeling rather treasonous myself.