Trump Surrogate's Internment Camp Remarks Upset Japanese Who Lived In Them

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Donald Trump surrogate's mention of internment camps as part of America's future has raised deep concerns from those who lived through them in World War II.

Marielle Tsukamoto spent two years in an internment camp. She says she realizes the remarks didn't come directly from Trump, but calls this an important time for Americans to stand up against discrimination to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.

Seconds after hearing Carl Higbie suggest the Japanese internment camps as a stepping stone to future immigration plans in America, Tsukamoto flashed back to 1942, when she was just 5 years old.

"We didn't know what it was. They said 'Oh, you're going to an internment camp. We said, 'Camp? Oh, OK,'" she said.

Tsukamoto, along with her parents and grandparents, were among 120,000 Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II. She call's Higbie's remarks ugly and deeply concerning.

"I am appalled that anyone would even suggest anything like this," she said.

Rep. Doris Matsui, who was born in an internment camp, echoed Tsukamoto's comments. In a statement, she told CBS13, "This type of rhetoric by Mr. Higbie is outrageous, unacceptable, and reckless.... We cannot go backwards."

Rep. Mark Takano, whose family was interned during the war said, "I am horrified that people connected to the incoming Administration are using my family's experience as a precedent for what President-elect Trump could do."

And the Congressional Progressive Caucus called the remarks, "abhorrent and has no place in our society. These ideas are based on tactics of fear, division and hate that we must condemn."

But despite the controversy, Tsukamoto says she has faith that our country's leaders have learned from the past.

"Everybody in Congress does not share the same view," she said. "I still have faith in the democratic system and an elected congress. And I think we can work through our Congressional leaders."

Tsukamoto says she still has a copy of a letter President George H. W. Bush sent her apologizing for what happened, along with a check for $20,000.