Within hours of the U.S. declaration of war against Japan, FBI agents in Hawai'i arrested 430 resident aliens considered to be potential threats.
The action was carried out under the authority of the Alien Enemy Act of 1798 (amended in 1918) and a set of proclamations that identified resident Japanese, German and Italian nationals as "enemy aliens."
A proclamation presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt by Attorney General Francis Biddle cleared the way for Japanese nationals older than 14 and living in the United States to be detained or deported.
Community leaders, priests, teachers, fishermen and others suddenly were singled out as potential threats. The arrests in Hawai'i included 345 Japanese as well as 74 Germans and 11 Italians. All were confined at the Sand Island Detention Center for two months, then transferred to Camp Honouliuli in Waipahu or to war relocation camps on the Mainland.
By the end of 1941, more than 2,400 resident aliens were in custody nationwide.
Of those arrested in Hawai'i, only Bernard Kuehn, a German, ever was convicted on charges relating to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
According to the FBI, Kuehn admitted receiving $84,000 from the Japanese Consulate over three years in exchange for military information.
Kuehn was convicted of espionage by a secret military court and sentenced to death. The sentence was reduced to 50 years in prison, but Kuehn was later deported to Germany.
