The Japanese internment is one of the worst government overreaches by one of the worst leftists presidents. You should hold it up as a warning of what happens when liberals run the country, not defend it.
“The equivalent today is if we were in an existential war with Iran, with Islam in general, or with Venezuela, would we intern the ones who flooded into America illegally in the last two decades?”
Of the 120,000 Japanese interned, a large majority, about 80,000 were US citizens, born in the US. Not illegals, not immigrants, US citizens who lost their homes and businesses and were dragged out into desert camps. It is not equivalent to rounding up illegal Venezuelans.
“Also, nobody mentions Italian Americans,”
Approx 1,200 Italians were interned, almost entirely Italian citizens. Estimates are about a dozen Italian-American citizens were interned, mostly by accident. No one talks about it because it was not a big deal, not a violation of the constitution. Totally normal during war time. This is the correct comparison to your Venezuela hypothetical.
There is to reason to defend Roosevelt. The whole thing was big government abuse at its worst. The most you might do is have some understanding for why Roosevelt overreacted given the anger and horror about Pearl Harbor, but it is wrong to defend it.
If we ever went to war with China, what should we do with all the Chinese here?