Lordsburg Internment Camp

Approximate location of the Lordsburg Internment Camp.

Operated by the U.S. Army, the Lordsburg camp held the U.S. Army’s largest number of Issei internees; the population peaked at 1,500. As opposed to the WRA Relocation Centers, this was a detention facility housing civilians whom the FBI had determined to be potentially dangerous enemy aliens, and deemed their incarceration essential for national security. It was located on 1,300 acres of desert land near Lordsburg in southwest New Mexico. The camp water tank and an adjacent water treatment building, a hospital building, and a warehouse are the only surviving structures.

Lordsburg was a nice sunny place on a broad highland plain just north of the Mexican border. That was how his father had described it in his letters. There are no trees here but the sunsets are beautiful and on clear days you can see the hills rising up in the distance. The food is fresh and substantial and my appetite is good. Although it is still very warm I have begun taking a cold shower every morning to better prepare myself for the winter.

("When The Emperor Was Divine", p. 60)