Old Raton (detention facility)

US Gov Name	Old Raton Ranch Internment Camp
Facility Type	Department of Justice Internment Camp
Administrative Agency	U.S. Department of Justice
Location	Lincoln, New Mexico (33.4833 lat, -105.3833 lng)
Date Opened	January 23, 1942
Date Closed	December 18, 1942
Population Description	The entire Japanese American population of Clovis, New Mexico, a total of thirty-two people.
General Description	An abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camp located 13 miles east of Fort Stanton internment camp in the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico; also known as Baca Ranch Camp
Peak Population	32 (1942-01-23)
Exit Destination	Poston, Gila River and Topaz WRA incarceration camps
	National Park Service Info

The isolated Old Raton Ranch camp held the entire Japanese American population of Clovis, New Mexico—men, women, and children, alien and citizen—who had been rounded up by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on January 23, 1942, a month before Executive Order 9066 . Work, school, and other activities were unavailable to the inmates. After almost a year of these bleak conditions, the Japanese Americans were transferred to War Relocation Authority (WRA) incarceration camps. None of the thirty-two Japanese Americans returned to Clovis.

For More Information

Culley, John J. “World War II and a Western Town: The Internment of Japanese Railroad Workers of Clovis, New Mexico.” Western Historical Quarterly 13.1 (Jan. 1982): 43-61.

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