Rachel Maddow draws parallels between Trump plans and Japanese internment

MS NOW host Rachel Maddow compared the Trump administration’s announced plans to build multiple large-scale detention centers for deportees to internment camps built for Japanese Americans during World War II.

During a Thursday appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, Maddow was asked about her new podcast series “Burn Order,” which examines the 1940s U.S. government edict regarding the internment of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

After giving the audience a brief summary of her new show, the MS NOW host explained how President Donald Trump’s announced plans to build detention centers reminded her of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s past decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans.

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Rachel Maddow speaks on her MSNBC show on February 25, 2025. (Screenshot/MSNBC)

“So during World War II, there was a racial decree from our government that said that not only immigrants from Japan and therefore Japanese citizens, but also Americans born here – American citizens – if they were of Japanese descent, if they had Japanese racial lineage, they were removed from the west coast of this country and over 120,000 of them were locked up for years,” she explained.

“It’s something that was so hard to believe 10 years ago. Looking back now, it’s not so hard to believe, is it?” Kimmel said.

Maddow cited a December Washington Post report alleging that, according to internal ICE documents reviewed by the outlet, the Trump administration is considering building seven large-scale detention centers for deportees. The Post reported that the facilities could accommodate up to 80,000 people across seven locations.

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According to a Washington Post article published in December, the Trump administration is considering building seven large-scale detention centers for deportees. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

“The Washington Post just reported internal administration documents that say they want a series of temporary relocation camps where they’re going to hold people for weeks, and then they’re going to send them to about 10 large warehouse-style facilities where they’re going to hold up to 10,000 people at a time. That’s exactly, exactly the structure they used for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II,” the MS NOW host claimed.

Maddow claimed the Trump administration was taking away citizens’ rights by “defining people as no longer protected by the U.S. Constitution.”

“[The U.S. government] I just said that American citizenship no longer matters. And I think that’s something that this administration is more than flirting with at this point,” she said.

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President Donald Trump visits an immigration detention center, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport site in Ochopee, Florida, July 1, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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When reached by the Post for comment, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the outlet she “could not confirm” the report and declined to answer questions about the alleged warehouse plan.