Utah Senator Drops Opposition, Internment Camp Bill Advances

DENVER — A proposal to create a national historic site at a former World War II Japanese American internment camp in rural Colorado has passed the U.S. Senate after Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee dropped his objections to adding more land to the federal government’s portfolio -- in this case less than a square mile.

The bipartisan bill to make Camp Amache part of the National Park System, sponsored by members of Colorado’s congressional delegation, goes to the House for final consideration. Its Senate passage Monday evening comes just before Saturday's 80th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt's order that led to the forced internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans at the onset of the war.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, said he had the support of 99 of the chamber’s 100 senators to pass the Amache National Historic Site Act, which would make the remote southeastern Colorado landmark a national historic site eligible for additional preservation assistance.

Under the original bill, the land, owned by the town of Granada in Colorado’s eastern plains, would be purchased or donated to the federal government, although Bennet’s office says preparations have been made for the town to donate the site.


https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/02/15/utah-senator-drops-opposition-internment-camp-bill-advances.html