Community Honors Day of Remembrance, Highlights Ongoing ICE Detentions

Japanese American survivors and activists connect past incarceration to current immigrant detention in South Seattle

Published on Feb. 26, 2026

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As the Japanese American community in the Pacific Northwest commemorates the Day of Remembrance, which marks the signing of Executive Order 9066 that led to the incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II, they are also drawing parallels to the ongoing detentions and deportations of immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the region. Community members are holding events, creating art displays, and sharing personal stories to raise awareness about ICE's activities at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and flights leaving King County International Airport.

Why it matters

The Day of Remembrance events highlight the continued trauma and impact of mass incarceration on Japanese American families, while also connecting those historical experiences to the current realities faced by immigrant communities. Activists see these parallels as a call to action, using the lessons of the past to fight against the unjust detention and deportation of immigrants today.

The details

Community members in South Seattle are organizing a series of events on February 21st to commemorate the Day of Remembrance. In Puyallup, there will be a memorial program at the fairgrounds, where over 7,500 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated during WWII. Afterward, a rally will be held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma to show solidarity with detainees and call for the facility's closure. As part of the Tacoma event, community-created cardboard cutouts will be displayed, each featuring information about the number of detainees flown out of King County International Airport on a given day, month, or year.

  • Executive Order 9066 was signed on February 19, 1942, authorizing the incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese descent.
  • The Puyallup fairgrounds were used as a temporary detention center before people were sent to concentration camps in 1942.
  • The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma has been the site of ongoing protests and activism against immigrant detention and deportation.

The players

Joe Okimoto

A retired psychiatrist and former Asian Counseling and Referral Services medical director who was incarcerated at the Santa Anita Assembly Center and Poston concentration camp as a child.

Erin Shigaki

A Central District resident and fourth-generation Japanese American artist whose family was incarcerated at the Minidoka concentration camp. Shigaki has been part of a flight observation team that monitors ICE deportation flights leaving King County International Airport.

Lynda Joko

An organizer with Tsuru for Solidarity, whose father's family was incarcerated at Poston and whose mother's family was sent to the Tule Lake incarceration site, where her aunt died while imprisoned.

Barbara Yasui

A member of Tsuru for Solidarity who volunteers in flight monitoring at King County International Airport and supports solidarity activities. Her background is in early childhood education.

Kiku Hughes

A fourth-generation cartoonist whose mother's family was incarcerated at Tanforan and Topaz concentration camps. Hughes has researched the Japanese American experience during WWII and connected it to the current fight against immigrant detention and deportation.

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What they’re saying

“The effect of the camp has stayed with me throughout my life. The experience motivates me for activism.”

— Joe Okimoto, Retired psychiatrist and former Asian Counseling and Referral Services medical director

“It's a community building project and healing process as we continue to grapple with the mass incarceration of other communities of color, besides Japanese Americans during WWII, who've been touched by this [nation's] obsession with incarcerating Brown and Black bodies that has gone on since the foundation of the country.”

— Erin Shigaki, Central District resident and fourth-generation Japanese American artist

“The similarities with bad food, poor sanitation, and lack of medical care — the same things are happening today. On top of that is emotional and physical abuse that the detainees tell us directly about when we call them in Northwest Detention Center.”

— Lynda Joko, Organizer with Tsuru for Solidarity

“Since I'm mixed, I grew up not knowing if I could call myself Japanese American — an arbitrary feeling of 'I don't know where I belong, where I fit in' — but I did know my family's [concentration] camp story, and I know how that's affected me. Tsuru brought the camp story to the present and showed me that I'm connected to this fight right now.”

— Kiku Hughes, Fourth-generation cartoonist

“Immigration using people's court appointments to capture them without a judge hearing the case, and issuing a deportation order or dismissing the case without due process … is using an immigration court date as bait.”

— Harriett Cody, Retired King County Superior Court Judge

What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.

The takeaway

This case highlights growing concerns in the community about repeat offenders released on bail, raising questions about bail reform, public safety on SF streets, and if any special laws to govern autonomous vehicles in residential and commercial areas.