Fearful that the Japanese might serve as enemy agents within U.S. borders, the government imprisoned more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, over two-thirds of whom had been born in the United States and thus were U.S. citizens. None of those interned were ever charged with a crime; imprisonment was based entirely on ethnic background. The government placed these Japanese Americans in desolate prison camps far from the West Coast, where they feared a Japanese invasion would take place. Most lost their homes and possessions as a result of the internment.