Separation of migrant children from their families at the border is worse than World War II internment camps for people of Japanese descent, wrote "Star Trek" actor George Takei in Foreign Policy.
"In one core, horrifying way, this is worse," wrote Takei, who, with his family, was among 120,000 Japanese-descended Americans who were sent to internment camps during World War II.
He and his family lived in a horse stall at a racetrack, but Takei said that he and other children were allowed to stay with their families. "At least during the internment, I and other children were not stripped from our parents… we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul," Takei wrote in Foreign Policy.
"My parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances. They told us we were 'going on a vacation to live with the horsies,'" Takei wrote.
Some officials claimed that the Japanese-Americans were trying to sabotage the U.S., Takei wrote in the opinion piece.
"It was a lie, and a big one, but it was repeated enough, and said with enough conviction, that the rest of the country went along with it," Takei wrote.
Citing parallels with the internments then and the family separations today. Takei wrote that history must not repeat itself.
"In 1941, there were few politicians who dared stand up to the internment order. I am hopeful that today there will, should be, must be, far more people who speak up, both among our leaders and the public, and that the future writes the history of our resistance — not, yet again, of our compliance," the actor wrote.
President Donald Trump stood firm on the immigration policy Tuesday, and sees it as an issue that will win Republicans votes in the midterm elections.
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