New national park historic site opens at site of former Japanese internment camp in Colorado

A new site in the national park system opened this week at a location where the U.S. government forced thousands of Japanese Americans to relocate during World War II. 

The Interior Department announced that the Amache National Historic Site in Colorado was formally established as part of the national park system. 

A total of more than 10,000 people were incarcerated at the site during the Second World War, including 7,310 incarcerees at its peak. Two-thirds of the people incarcerated there were U.S. citizens 

“As a nation, we must face the wrongs of our past in order to build a more just and equitable future,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a written statement.

The Amache site currently includes building foundations, a historic cemetery, a monument, a road network and other reconstructed or restored structures including a barrack and guard tower. 

It joins six other national park sites that also commemorate the U.S. internment of people of Japanese descent.

In 2022, President Biden signed legislation that made the Amache camp a national historic site. The official establishment comes ahead of the Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II on Feb.19.