Executive Order 10009—Revoking in Part Executive Orders No. 589 of March 14, 1907, and No. 1712 of February 24, 1913

WHEREAS Executive Order No. 589 of March 14, 1907, recited in part that passports issued by the Government of Japan to Japanese or Korean citizens who were skilled or unskilled laborers to go to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii were being used for the purpose of enabling the holders thereof to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, and ordered that such citizens of Japan or Korea be refused permission to enter the continental territory of the United States; and WHEREAS Executive Order No. 1712 of February 24, 1913, recited that passports issued by certain foreign governments to their citizens or subjects, skilled or unskilled laborers, to go to countries or places other than the continental territory of the United States were being used for the purpose of enabling the holders thereof to come to the continental territory of the United States; and WHEREAS the continued restraint imposed by the said Executive orders upon the freedom of Japanese or Korean citizens or subjects who entered the Territory of Hawaii under the passports referred to above to come to the continental United States has resulted in considerable personal hardship to such persons; and WHEREAS the number of Japanese or Korean citizens or subjects thus prohibited from entering the continental United States from the Territory of Hawaii is so small, and the age of such persons is so advanced, that their entry into the continental United States would no longer be a detriment to labor conditions therein: NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 3 of the Immigration Act of 1917 (39 Stat. 875; 8 U.S.C. 136), I hereby revoke the said Executive Orders No. 589 of March 14, 1907, and No. 1712 of February 24, 1913, to the extent that they are applicable to Japanese or Korean citizens or subjects who entered the Territory of Hawaii under the aforesaid passports and who are now precluded from legally entering or remaining in the continental territory of the United States by reason of such Executive orders. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization is hereby authorized and directed, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take such action and to issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions of this order. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, October 18, 1948