1 jan 1942 ano - 1942 - FDR signed executive order 9066, which sent Japanese Americans on the West coast to internment camps. This order was controversial at the time and even more so afterwards, but was passed due to a prevailing fear of immigrants. Many thought immigrants would not be loyal to the United States, and would instead be loyal to their birth nations. Nevertheless, many Japanese-Americans fought in WWII for the United States.