CA: Lawmaker trying again to address 1930's deportations [to Mexico]

AP - San Luis Obispo Tribune ^ | May. 15, 2005 | STEVE LAWRENCE

[calcowgirl]

SACRAMENTO - An Orange County lawmaker is trying again to make amends for a shocking but little known episode in American history - one he discovered because he wanted a book to read on a cross-country flight.

"Decade of Betrayal" tells the story of the deportation of about 2 million Hispanics, including 400,000 Californians, to Mexico between 1929 and 1944. An aide gave it to state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, about four years ago and he grabbed it to read on a trip to the East Coast.

"I was blown away by it," he said in a recent interview. "It was a chapter of American history that I'd never ever heard a thing about. I was shocked to read about it."

The program was started by the Hoover administration, supposedly as a way to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs during the Depression. But the overwhelming majority of the people shipped to Mexico were American citizens or legal immigrants, Dunn said.

Some were able to return because they were drafted to fight for the United States in World War II.

A number of states, including California, continued the deportations even after the Roosevelt administration cut off funding for them, Dunn said. Los Angeles County was particularly active, with county supervisors overriding legality concerns raised by the county counsel.

"Anybody that had a Mexican sounding name was literally taken from their beds and shipped to Mexico," Dunn said.

Dunn responded with bills to give the victims of the deportation a new opportunity to file lawsuits seeking damages and to set up a state commission to recommend how to redress the wrongs suffered by the deportees.

Former Gov. Gray Davis vetoed the lawsuit bill in 2003 shortly before he was forced from office by a recall election. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down the commission legislation last year.

This year Dunn has introduced a bill that would create the redress commission, a window for lawsuits and a fund to pay reparations to surviving deportees who file claims. It would take separate legislation, however, to put money in that account.

He's also introduced a second bill that would express a state apology for the episode and require placement of a plaque commemorating the deportees.

Dunn said he separated the proposals into two bills because he's convinced Schwarzenegger will veto the reparations measure, and he wants the state to take at least a symbolic step while some of the California deportees are still alive.

"At the very least the state ought to, before the last survivor passes away, formally apologize for its role in the deportation of U.S. citizens for one reason - they were of Mexican decent," he said.

Schwarzenegger hasn't taken a position on either bill, his office said.

The apology bill is scheduled to be considered Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The reparations bill is awaiting a hearing in the same committee.

[Mears]

I know---it's ridiculous.

I'm still waiting for the Brits to apologize to my ancestors for forcing them to leave Ireland so they wouldn't starve during the famine.(Kidding,of course)

The last 20 years has been nothing but apologies and requests for reparations. How the heck far back do they want to go.

[sharktrager]

The program was started by the Hoover administration, supposedly as a way to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs during the Depression. But the overwhelming majority of the people shipped to Mexico were American citizens or legal immigrants, Dunn said.

[Snapping Turtle]

This was a great statement to the validity of the supposed deportation of US citizens in the 20's. Good reading.

[F.J. Mitchell]

So many victems, so few victemizers. But what the h*ll! We will just penalize people who had nothing to do with the victemizing, but do have pockets we can mine. We're creating new victems???????Do tell........

[Snapping Turtle]

The Amazon.com review was a great testament to the validity of the supposed deportation of US citizens in the 20's. Good reading.

[elfman2]

If true, an apology's in order.

[calcowgirl]

There were also some very long reviews which challenged the accuracy and presentation of information in the book. Apparently, the author went to great lenghths to ignore facts and mischaracterize reality.

Here is a snip from one:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0826315755/

Reviewer: Christopher J Wiley (Bayonne, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

The deportations of the 1930s need to be put into historical perspective and not just labeled as another incident of how bad America is to Mexicans. In 1924, the Immigration Act shut down immigration from Europe; Mexicans were EXEMPTED from such quotas between 1924 and 1965 (unacknowledged by most Chicano polemicists who can't deal with the fact that a policy was biased against white Europeans benefitted non whites). According to historian John Womack, some 900,000 Mexicans entered the US between 1924 and 1930, some 630,000 illegally. So this wave continued unabated into the Depression, and with 25% unemployment, the Federal government decided to crack down on this migration. Europeans were not targeted because the waves of immigartion had already been shut down, and those who did enter did so legally throught the nation's ports; most Mexicans entered through a land border. Abraham Hoffman puts the number involved and deportedat 400,000, not 1 million, with about half leaving voluntarily and half forced. Fifty percent were US citizens, largely the children of illegal immigrants who left with their parents.

(snip)

[elfman2]

"Abraham Hoffman puts the number involved and deportedat 400,000, not 1 million, with about half leaving voluntarily and half forced. Fifty percent were US citizens, largely the children of illegal immigrants who left with their parents. "

“Largely”?

[facedown]

Thanks for the research effort. Had a hunch.

[calcowgirl]

I posted it on a hunch.

Now we need to tell Senator Dunn what we think!
Senator.Dunn@sen.ca.gov


http://www.overlawyered.com/archives/001327.html

July 22, 2004
Calif. state senator Joe Dunn

He made a fortune suing doctors, then moved up to the California State Senate as a Democrat representing Orange County communities including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fullerton and Garden Grove. Now he's one of the chief guardians of trial lawyer interests in Sacramento. Will he run for state attorney general in 2006? (Michael A. Glueck, "The runaway trial lawyer", Jewish World Review, Jul. 9). Dunn was chief sponsor of the first-in-the-nation bill signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis last year, authorizing lawyers to file private damage suits over labor code violations; see Oct. 20.

[TheDon]

Right, that's the author's claim. I don't think there are any takers on FR. Those deported were illegal immigrants.

[Brilliant]

I support deporting people based on the fact that they are illegal immigrants.