rump’s Promise to Deport All Undocumented Immigrants a 1950s Strategy

[wvit1001]

It Didn’t Work Then Either


Trump made a promise to voters if he were elected again: “Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” he said. Trump, who made a similar pledge during his first presidential campaign, has recently repeated this promise at rallies across the country.

Trump was referring to Operation Wetback, a military-style campaign launched by the Eisenhower administration in the summer of 1954 to end undocumented immigration by deporting hundreds of thousands of Mexicans. “Wetback” was a widely used ethnic slur for Mexicans who illegally crossed the Rio Grande, the river dividing Mexico and the U.S.

Trump says that he can replicate Operation Wetback on a much grander scale by setting up temporary immigration detention centers and relying on local, state and federal authorities, including National Guard troops, to remove the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S.

As a migration scholar, I find Trump’s proposal to be both disturbing and misleading. Besides playing to unfounded and dehumanizing fears of an immigrant invasion, it misrepresents the context and impact of Eisenhower’s policy while ignoring the vastly changed landscape of U.S. immigration today.

If he were to win the presidency again, Trump would have the legal authority to deport undocumented immigrants, but the logistical, political and legal obstacles to doing so quickly and massively are even greater today than they were in the 1950s.

First, most undocumented immigrants now live in cities, where immigrant sweeps are more difficult to carry out. The INS learned this lesson when Operation Wetback shifted from the largely rural Southwest to urban areas in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest in September 1954. Despite transferring hundreds of agents to these locations and using similar tactics, INS agents produced far fewer apprehensions as they struggled to find and detain immigrants.

Second, the U.S. undocumented population is much more dispersed and diverse than in the 1950s. Today, Mexicans are no longer in the majority, and nearly half of undocumented immigrants live outside the six major hubs for immigrants—California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

Third, most undocumented immigrants in the U.S. did not sneak across the border. An estimated 42% entered the country legally but overstayed a visa illegally. Another 17% requested and received a short-term legal status that protects them from immediate deportation.

Finally, mass deportations are likely to spark a more broad-based resistance today than happened in the 1950s. Once staunchly opposed to undocumented immigration, most labor unions and Mexican-American organizations are now in the pro-immigrant camp. Likewise, the Mexican government, which helped with Operation Wetback, is unlikely to allow massive numbers of non-Mexicans to be deported to its territory without the proper documentation.

Trump has not supported a way to provide undocumented immigrants with a legal alternative, which means that migrants will keep finding ways to cross illegally.The Conversation


https://factkeepers.com/trumps-promise-to-deport-all-undocumented-immigrants-is-a-1950s-strategy-it-didnt-work-then-either/

[Dan]

Why do you think it didn't work?  It did work.  It can work again.  It's certainly better than what we have now.

[chuck_curtis]

Likewise, the Mexican government, which helped with Operation Wetback, is unlikely to allow massive numbers of non-Mexicans to be deported to its territory without the proper documentation.

I can certainly understand that.  Too bad Brandon doesn't.

[Truman62]

Dan, why do you think we need to crack down on people who are trying to work to survive?
And do NOTHING about the employers who are taking advantage of them to save money at their jobs?

One is doing it to survive, the other is doing it for greed.

Why don't we support employer stings to crack down on BAD employers?
Trump did away with employer stings that Obama used to do.
No idea what Biden is doing...

[Jw2]

Why do you think it didn't work?




Deporting 11 million people, would be costly to taxpayers and the economy those productive people support.  That's why.

[WWV10MHZ]

[seahooker]

Dan, why do you think we need to crack down on people who are trying to work to survive?
And do NOTHING about the employers who are taking advantage of them to save money at their jobs?


You are correct 62


The biggest employer in the USA is the Federal Government and all they want is to take advantage of the worker by putting them in government's debt so they have to vote for them!

[sine-qua-non]

Operation Wetback deported illegals to their own countries not just to Mexico but Mexico let them in and leave to the USA

so they should bear some of the blame and cost not just the Americans taxpayers!

[Dan]

Dan, why do you think we need to crack down on people who break the law?

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Because I believe in justice and the rule of law.

who are trying to work to survive?

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Irrelevant.

And do NOTHING about the employers

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I don’t think they should get a fee pass either.  But Biden is giving them work permits.

Why don't we support employer stings to crack down on BAD employers?

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I do.  But Biden gave them a free pass.

No idea what Biden is doing.

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He’s giving the illegals work permits.

[Dan]

Deporting 11 million people, would be costly to taxpayers

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It costs far more to keep them here, as they are a drain on our social services.

and the economy those productive people support.  That's why.

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Then why is mayor Adams complaining about the burden on New York taxpayers?  If illegals were such a positive influence, why isn’t he asking Governor Abbott to send more, please?