Speaker 1: Right now it is time for the way Black History Fact.
Speaker 1: And today's way Black History Fact comes from Immigrationhistory dot Org.
Speaker 1: I want to share a disclaimer here. I'm going to
Speaker 1: be using a word that I think is a disgusting word.
Speaker 1: It is a very unkind word. But I feel like
Speaker 1: this needs, this story needs to be told in its
Speaker 1: fullness so that people are aware of what has happened
Speaker 1: in this country and what is happening in this country,
Speaker 1: and so that people can investigate it further. And so
Speaker 1: I will be using language that I would not normally use,
Speaker 1: Nor am I condoning this language, but I need to
Speaker 1: tell the history and its fullness. Not subject to general
Speaker 1: immigration restrictions until nineteen sixty five, Mexicans crossed into the
Speaker 1: United States at rates of about a million per year.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen fifties, this migration was largely unregulated, and
Speaker 1: Southwest agricultural interest depended on Mexican labor. However, national concerns
Speaker 1: reguarding employment for returning soldiers and uncontrolled migration across the
Speaker 1: southern border inspired the Immigration Bureau to crack down on
Speaker 1: Mexican immigrants in the United States, even as the Brasero
Speaker 1: program continued to recruit temporary Mexican workers. The Immigration Bureau
Speaker 1: and Border Patrol led these military style roundups, claiming to
Speaker 1: have deported one million Mexicans. Among those deported included many
Speaker 1: US citizens of Mexican descent. In nineteen fifty one, President
Speaker 1: Truman's Commission on Migratory Labor released a report blaming low
Speaker 1: wages in the Southwest and social ills on illegal immigration.
Speaker 1: The quote, the magnitude has reached entirely new levels in
Speaker 1: the past seven years. In its newly achieved proportions, it
Speaker 1: is virtually an invasion sound familiar, the report said. After
Speaker 1: touring southern California in August nineteen fifty three to assess
Speaker 1: the impact of illegal immigration, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Attorney General,
Speaker 1: Herbert Browno Junior, pushed Congress to enact sanctions against employers
Speaker 1: of undocumented workers and to confiscate the vehicles that were
Speaker 1: used to bring them to the United States. While neither
Speaker 1: proposal became law, the administration moved forward on plans for
Speaker 1: a deep portation operation. On June ninth, nineteen fifty four,
Speaker 1: i INS Commissioner General Joseph Swing announced the commencement of
Speaker 1: Operation wet Back. The first phase of the operation began
Speaker 1: in California and Arizona. Its effectiveness depended on publicity as
Speaker 1: well as manpower. Extensive media coverage that often exaggerated the
Speaker 1: strength of the border patrol, as well as targeted displays
Speaker 1: of strength, gave the impression of a greater force in
Speaker 1: many regions. This strategy convinced thousands who had entered the
Speaker 1: US illegally to repatriate voluntarily. In Texas, for example, more
Speaker 1: than sixty three thousand individuals returned to Mexico of their
Speaker 1: own volition. US officials detained an additional forty two thousand
Speaker 1: persons in July nineteen fifty four. An IONS report later
Speaker 1: indicated that the agency apprehended nearly one point one million individuals.
Speaker 1: The Ions operation one at least tacit support from several
Speaker 1: key groups, the Mexican government, labour groups, and in US.
Speaker 1: Even Mexican American civil rights groups acknowledged the labor problem,
Speaker 1: but they withheld extensive criticism. While the raids disrupted the
Speaker 1: growing seasons in California and Arizona, the government pacified farm
Speaker 1: owners with promises of additional brasero labor. Though the program
Speaker 1: was touted as a success, its efforts were short lived.
Speaker 1: Illegal entry exploded again after the United States terminated the
Speaker 1: Brescero program in nineteen fifty four. The reason I wanted
Speaker 1: to share that is because there's nothing new under the sun.
Speaker 1: We've always had a very good relationship with Mexicans. And
Speaker 1: I'll speak for myself and Ritzie. Of course you can
Speaker 1: chime in if you still choose. I'm from California. I
Speaker 1: live in Arizona. The land that I live on used
Speaker 1: to be Mexico and that border and the people that
Speaker 1: live there, they have come and they have gone forever,
Speaker 1: and they are not the people that they've been made
Speaker 1: out to be on in the media.