Feds Need Help Finding Wwii Internees

The Justice Department wants help finding more than 4,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II and may be eligible for up to $20,000 each in redress payments.

Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, individuals who were interned, relocated or evacuated during the war were declared eligible for redress payments provided they were alive on Aug. 10, 1988, when the law took effect.

Justice’s Office of Redress Administration used historical records to identify about 120,000 Japanese-Americans who met the requirements, but it has only been able to find 115,600 of them.

More than 4,000 have not been located despite department letters sent to family members, work with the Social Security Administration and a national locator service and a review of various state death records.