After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hawaii and the Western United States were emmersed in panic. There was a strong fear of Japanese sabotage that would lead to invasion. Officials across the Western Coast were clamouring for the arrest and confinement of all enemy aliens. California was at the forefront of the hysteria because of its large Japanese and Japanese-American population. Numerous boards, District Attorneys, and other official bodies were consistently voting to restrict and remove the Japanese population. Oregon and Washington also followed suit. In February 1942 a congressional delegation made up of Western States demanded the urgent removal of all  persons of Japanese lineage, aliens and citizens alike, from the strategic areas of California, Oregon and Washington. As a result, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 to create camps to detain persons of Japanese lineage, which included both aliens and United States Citizens. Japanese removal begins almost immediately.

   In Arizona, two camps were established, the Gila River Relocation Camp, and the Poston Relocation Camp. Below is a description of the population, where they came from, and other information. This information was compiled from a website that is listed below in the cited sources. This is an excellent website. It will provide all you need to know about Japanese American Internment and will give you a list of sources, websites, books, documents, everything. It is a must see.
 

Gila River Relocation Camp, Arizona

Opened July 20, 1942. Closed November 10, 1945. Peak Population 13,348. Origin of prisoners: Sacramento Delta, Fresno County, and Los Angeles area. Divided into Canal Camp and Butte Camp. Over 1100 citizens from both camps served in the U.S. Armed Services. The names of 23-war dead are engraved on a plaque here. The State of Arizona accredited the schools in both camps. 97 students graduated from Canal High School in 1944. Nearly 1000 prisoners worked in the 8000 acres of farmland around Canal Camp, growing vegetables and raising livestock.

Poston Relocation Camp. (AKA Colorado River Relocation Camp)

Opened May 8, 1942. Closed November 28, 1945. Peak population 17,814. Origin of prisoners: Southern California, Kern County, Fresno, Monterey Bay Area, Sacramento County, Southern Arizona. 24 Japanese Americans held at Poston later lost their lives in World War II.2 Poston was divided into three separate camps -- I, II, and III.

December 17, 1944

Public Proclamation No. 21 issued by Major General Henry C. Pratt (effective January 2, 1945), allowing evacuees to return home and lifting contraband regulations. The next day, two years and five months after it was filed, the Endo case was ruled on in the Supreme Court -- the WRA cannot detain "loyal" citizens. Executive Order 9066 and the evacuation was upheld in the Korematsu case.

Cited Source

Yu, John C. The Japanese American Internment.http://www.oz.net/~cyu/internment/main.htmlAvailable Online. Accessed 1/01/00.

Russ Nakatsu Executive Order 9066. http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/KSD/SJ/Nikkei/ExecutiveOrder_9066.html Accessed May 8, 2002

Other Websites

Unversity of Arizona War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946
http://www.library.arizona.edu/images/jpamer/wraintro.html

Gila River Relocation Camp
http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/gila/gila.html

Poston Relocation Camp
http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/poston/poston.html

Books

Impounded People: Japanese-Americans in the Relocation Centers. by Spicer, Edward H. et al.
D769.8.A6 A5 1969

Gila River, Arizona: Personal Accounts of Japanese Americans in a World War II Concentration Camp.by Young, Allyson K.
D769.8.A6 Y68 1996

And Justice For All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps. by Tateishi, John.
D769.8.A6 A67 1984.

Bailey, Paul. The Japanese Concentration Camp at Poston, Arizona: City in the Sun.
D769.8.A6 B3 1971

Daniels, Roger. Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II.
D769.8.A6 D37 1993

Arizona Sunset by Kimura, Yoshiju.
D769.8.A6 K56 1980
 

Manuscript Collections

Frances and Mary Montgomery Collection. Includes correspondence from and to the Montgomery’s, teachers at Gila River Relocation Center.
FM MSS-7

Wade Head Collection. Includes dedication book to Wade Head separated into Blocks with signatures and original artwork (oil, watercolor, chalk, drawing) by internees. Collection at Arizona Historical Foundation See manuscript guide at front desk.
FM MSS-117

Mary Lou Yamamoto Williams Collection, 1942-1943.
FM MSM-280

Arizona Newspapers: Editorial Reaction to the Evacuation of Japanese into A Arizona.
FM MSM-62

Japanese Relocation.
FM MSM-183

Tamir, Orit. Return to Butte Camp: A Japanese-American World War II Relocation Center, 1993
FM MSM-247

Martinelli, Phylis Cancilla. A Demographic Analysis of the Asian American Population in a Sunbelt State , Arizona, 1985.
FM MSM-259
 

Ephemera

Official Program of the Poston Memorial Monument Dedication, Oct. 6, 1992.
FE EPH HM-VII.9

Gila River Relocation Camp: 50th Anniversary Reunion, 1992.
FE EPH HM-VII.10

Japanese Internment Camps in Arizona, 1992.
FE EPH RO-1

Brochure: Relocating a People, 1943.
FE EPH RO-3

Lowe, Sam. "Graffiti, trash mar internment camp memorial." Arizona Republic. March 24, 1997.
FE EPH HM-VII.10

"Japanese American Internment." Arizona Insight. September 1997.
FE EPH PN-7
 

Photographs

Call numbers FP from the Arizona Historical Foundation

FP DD 98 Dedera, Don. Frank Ayrand, Japanese Prisoner of War, C.1943.

Frances Montgomery Photograph  Collection-Gila River Relocation Camp
FP Mont 1-233

Wade Head Photograph Collection-Poston Relocation Camp
FP HEA 1-109