Pleads for a Lift in Restrictions

One day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2527 which declared all undocumented Italians in the United States, “Enemy Aliens,” and subsequently subjected 600,000 Italian Americans to restrictions (Traficanti, 2020). One of the ways in which Italian Americans in Santa Cruz were especially impacted by this proclamation was through the restriction of “Enemy Aliens” from the coast, in which they were prohibited from going near the water, and their boats were seized (Traficanti, 2020). This was primarily devastating for Italian Americans making a living on the California coast as fisherman and farmers.