Several Japanese Americans held at Fort Bliss were from New Mexico, and it appears that German and Italians held at the camp were also taken into custody from western states. In response, the DOJ gave the INS increased authority to house potentially dangerous Alien Enemies (including American citizens) at internment camps throughout the U.S. Army realized it needed to focus the efforts of the Provost Marshal General Office on the expected task of guarding hundreds of thousands of Axis prisoners of war. They were not permitted to have radio receiving sets, but could subscribe to newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals approved by the camp’s administrative arm.īy late 1942, the U.S. Similar to Fort Sam Houston, internees were permitted to wear their civilian clothing, and were permitted to send two letters, consisting of approximately 24 lines each and one postal card to friends and relatives each week. The internment stockade never held a large number of internees, but unused neighboring infrastructure could hold up to 1,350 detainees if needed. At the four corners of the stockade, elevated towers were manned by armed guards. The square-shaped internment stockade measured 365 feet per side, and enclosed two compounds within a double barbed-wire fence. Each awaited hearings by Alien Enemy Hearing Boards and the completion of arrangements for parole, extended internment, or repatriation to their ancestral nation from this Far West Texas internment camp. Nearly halfway into the first year of the war, only 29 Japanese, 18 German, and nine Italian enemy aliens made up the detention camp’s population of 56 individuals. The Spanish Consul, joined by representatives of the Special Division of the State Department, first inspected Fort Bliss on and found a very small internee population.

Army report of the Spanish Consul’s visit gives a unique glimpse into this little-known confinement site.

The exact date of the opening of the internment site at Fort Bliss is unknown, but it likely opened in either February or March 1942.

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss Enemy Alien Detention Station

Fort bliss