CMV: The most heinous crime in US history is perpetually ignored

The USA has a long, shameful history of crimes committed by the government against its own civilians. One crime stands out that overshadows them all, and that's the federal government allowing approximately 80,000 US citizens to starve to death in 1921. The US Federally-sponsored holocaust at internment camps following WWI is one of the least known events in US history and represents the largest mass-killing event carried out by the Federal government, even surpassing the 15,000 killed in 1830 at Indian Removal Act federal internment camps.<br><br>*Why internment camps?* The US effectively imprisoned hundreds of thousands of US immigrants from enemy nations for decades in order to stop espionage. The inability to intern these immigrants is often cited as a major reason that allowed Pearl Harbor to happen as well.<br><br>*The federal government knew there were problems for over a year.* For example, the Washington Post published on June 11, 1920, "The Government internment camp at Binghamton, New York, will be abandoned. The entire number of prisoners at Binghamton is to be transferred to the camp at Ellis Island, New York. Interned Germans at Binghamton have shown signs of insanity, physical collapse, and suicidal tendencies as the result of their internment at this place".<br><br>*The federal government knew how to prevent the deaths.* Internment camps may seem inherently cruel, but federal camps were designed to provide for basic needs of immigrants and allowed the needs of immigrants to be met within a federal internment system. The following is from a 1942 report from the US Department of State about internment camps as observed in 1918, "The 31 Civilian Internment Camps under the jurisdiction of the War Department were opened 24-36 months ago. A total of 7,976 civilians were interned in these camps and the death rate was 0.6%". The US Federally Internment Camps were not intended to kill the ages that they did.<br><br>*Assuming 250k Germans and Austrians were interned from 1917 as the US Department of State reported, then approximately 80,000 US civilian prisoners died in between 1918-1919 at internment camps for a 32% death rate at the hands of the US government.* I arrived at these numbers by combining the number interned as reported by the US Department of State with the overall reported death rate from internment camps. The 95% death rate at the Binghamton camp (a 4.6% release rate of 750 prisoners left 42 alive), and the 93% death rate at the Hot Springs camp (a 2.4% release rate of 1,229 prisoners left 83 alive) are both documented internment camps of German immigrants federal internment camps. The number 80,000 killed is dramatically less than actual recorded deaths at internment camps.<br><br>*Timeline:* The US Congress took at least 3 actions that Federally interned prisoners in the US between WWI and WWII, but it was only during these 3 years that allowed mass death tolls. These internment events for a short summary include 1) 80,000 US residents died between 1917 and 1919 at WWWI internment camps, 2) thousands died in the 1930s at internment camps for immigrants of Mexican nationality, and 3) thousands died at WWII internment camps in the 1940s.<br><br>I think it's reasonable to attribute the events at the camps that caused 80,000+ US civilian deaths as acts of genocide. This isn't an isolated event that is restricted to history books. The US government still uses internment camps today at Immigration internment camps.<br><br>*TL;DR. The US government imprisoned hundreds of thousands of German immigrants under Federal internment camps that allowed 80,000+ US civilian deaths between 1917-1919.*<br><br>&#x200B;