RE: Operation Wetback
Operation Wetback uses the name “Wetback” which was a derogatory term applied to Mexicans laborers, both legal and illegal.
One of the biggest issues with the program was the deportation of Mexicans to unfamiliar places, where they would struggle to find their way home or support their families.
The following is taken from the book:
Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America by Mae Ngai of Columbia University
If I read its history right, over 25% of apprehended Mexicans were returned to Veracruz on ships, while others were transported by land to southern cities in Mexico.
Those apprehended were often deported without opportunity to recover their property in the US or contact family and were stranded without food or employment when they entered Mexico.
Deported Mexicans faced extreme conditions and were sometimes left in the desert; 88 deported workers died in 112 degree heat in July 1955.
Another issue was repeat border crossings by those who had been previously deported; from 1960-1961, repeaters accounted for 20% of the total deportees.
Certain U.S. Border Patrol agents practiced shaving heads to mark repeat offenders who would attempt to reenter the United States. There were also reports of beating and jailing illegal immigrants before deporting them.
While most complaints concerning deportation were undocumented, there were over 11,000 formal complaints from documented bracero workers from 1954 -1964.
Ultimately, with the lack of evidence and documentation concerning the treatment of laborers in Operation Wetback, the level of mistreatment remains unclear and unknown.
I like IKE
One of the biggest issues with the program was the deportation of Mexicans to unfamiliar places, where they would struggle to find their way home or support their families."
Gosh. You mean that when foreign nationals broke our laws then things happened to them that they didn't like?
Good. It's way past time to do it again, on a much larger scale so that we can get California back.