FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 1995 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS HELP IN LOCATING MORE THAN 4,000 POTENTIAL JAPANESE-AMERICAN REDRESS RECIPIENTS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Over 4,000 Japanese-Americans who are potentially eligible for redress payments of $20,000 each might not even know it -- and the Justice Department is asking for help locating them. Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, individuals who were interned, relocated or evacuated during World War II were declared eligible to receive redress payments, provided they were alive on August 10, 1988, when the law went into effect. At the start of the redress program, the Department's Office of Redress Administration (ORA) identified about 120,000 interned, relocated, or evacuated Japanese-Americans through historical records. While 115,600 persons have been accounted for, more than 4,000 others still have not been located despite repeated efforts by ORA. To locate the potential recipients, ORA has sent letters to family members asking for information about their missing relatives, worked with the Social Security Administration to track down possible recipients, provided names and birth dates to a national locator service, and requested death records from various states to identify individuals who may have died since the law went into effect. "The Japanese-American community always has shown great interest in helping our office locate individuals and has provided invaluable assistance in the past," said DeDe Greene, ORA Administrator. "With the continued help from community groups, we hope to find more potential recipients." "We were given the responsibility under the law to identify and locate all potential individuals," added Greene. "We hope that with the assistance of the Japanese-American community, we will finally be able to locate these potentially eligible recipients." Anyone who believes they might be eligible for redress may apply. To contact ORA, call the Helpline at (202) 219-6900, or write to the Office of Redress Administration at P.O. Box 66260; Washington, D.C. 20035-6260. Anyone contacting ORA should provide the following information to assist in the verification process: full name, name used during the internment period, date of birth, address, telephone number, and place of internment, relocation, or evacuation. Partial information is helpful as well. Since the law went into effect, the government has paid out over $1.59 billion to 79,565 recipients. # # # 95-321