Mission Statement:

The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, in partnership with the Crystal City community, advocates for justice for Japanese Latin American and Japanese American survivors and descendants of the Department of Justice’s WWII Crystal City Family Internment Camp through education, pilgrimage programs, and site preservation.

Our work:

• Preserves and shares the stories of the 2,300 Japanese, Japanese Americans, and Japanese Latin Americans imprisoned at Crystal City Family Internment Camp. In particular, we bring to light the often hidden history of wartime rendition and the unjust kidnapping and internment of immigrant residents and citizens of Japanese ancestry from 13 Latin American countries. We seek to ensure proper redress for former Japanese Latin American internees.

• Builds cross-cultural relationships and works alongside the current residents of Crystal City, TX and connects the Japanese Latin American and Japanese American WWII incarceration experience to their historic struggle for political power and civil rights in Texas. We work in solidarity with other movements across states, borders, and nations for social justice and government accountability. 

• Continues the struggle for human and civil rights of all peoples. We preserve the story of the human rights abuses that occurred during WWII because the rights of immigrants, U.S. citizens, refugees, asylum seekers, and communities of color continue to face similar constitutional and human rights violations. We are committed to Crystal City Family Internment Camp being America's last concentration camp, ever.

History of the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee 

Established August 5, 2019, the Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee’s (CCPC) mission is, “to advocate for justice for Japanese Latin American and Japanese American Survivors and descendants of the Department of Justice’s WWII Crystal City Family Internment Camp through education, pilgrimage programs and site preservation.”

The CCPC organized its first Pilgrimage to Crystal City in November 2019, attended by close to 200 participants. Crystal City civic and community leaders strongly supported this Pilgrimage, which included an educational conference. On November 2, 2019, high school students performed Baille Folklorico dances to welcome pilgrimage participants. Historic photos of the internment camp by Hector Estrada, who grew up in Crystal City and attended school in former internment camp buildings, were displayed in the Crystal City High School rotunda. Docents from the local community led participants on bus tours of the internment site. A memorial program was held at a site where two Japanese Peruvian girls tragically drowned in 1944, with the participation of a local Crystal City pastor and Japanese American Buddhist ministers. After the November 2, 2019 Pilgrimage, the CCPC sponsored a November 4 presentation by three surviving Peruvian Japanese internees – Blanca Katsura, Libya Yamamato and Eloy Maoki – to over 400 Crystal City high school students.

Pilgrimages were suspended during the pandemic, but CCPC members continued working remotely with Crystal City residents to preserve the former site of the DOJ prison and improve on-site historical interpretation. In 2022, Crystal City’s city council and mayor passed a resolution supporting the Pilgrimage and offered free land for the placement of a memorial monument to honor those who died during the internment. A delegation from the CCPC attended the city’s Spinach Festival, where a memorial program at the internment site was held and an educational program with high school students took place.

In 2023, CCPC organized its second Pilgrimage and educational conference in San Antonio was organized with close to 100 participants including incarceration survivors, descendants, family, and friends. Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai – the first Japanese American elected to this position – offered welcoming remarks at the educational conference. Conference presentations included former internees sharing their memories of life in the camp, workshops on the WWII Latin American hostage experience, the Irei Monument Project, and a panel discussion led by participants of the historic Chicano Movement 1969 Crystal City High School Walkout and members of the progressive third party, La Raza Unida.

The 2023 Pilgrimage to Crystal City held a memorial service and dedication ceremony for a memorial monument that lists the names of all those who died during the internment. The city paved a road to the memorial site, where two Japanese Peruvian girls tragically drowned in 1944. The city named the road “Calle de Aiko y Sachiko”, after the two girls. At the Crystal City High School, where city volunteers cooked lunch for the Pilgrimage participants, photos by Hector Estrada were again displayed in the school’s rotunda. Tabletop displays of the internment produced by high school students as part of a class project were also shown.

In late 2023, the CCPC was the recipient of a Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation grant to conduct an internment camp museum feasibility study. In February, 2024, the Museum Working Group of the CCPC convened a meeting of Crystal City civic, school, and community leaders to explore the feasibility of a museum. This led to a partnership with Diana Palacios, a longtime civic leader and businesswoman, who will soon be opening Crystal City’s first local history museum. Known as My Story Museum - The Story of Us: Tres Historias en Crystal City, CCPC’s Museum Working Group will be opening a permanent exhibition on the DOJ site on November 9, 2024.

The CCPC received an additional grant by the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Fund on November 1, 2024, to continue its museum and educational work.

The next Pilgrimage is currently being planned with a tentative date of October 9-12, 2025.

Past Pilgrimages

• 2019 Pilgrimage

• 2023 Pilgrimage