According to Tammy Kelly, archivist at the Harry S. Truman struggled with the problem of migrant farm workers — both legal and illegal. On June 3, , he set up a Presidential Commission on Migratory Labor and asked it to look into among other things "the extent of illegal migration of foreign workers into the United States" and whether laws could be "strengthened and improved to eliminate such illegal migration.
On July 13, , Truman approved legislation to facilitate the employment of legal migrants to harvest U. But the legislation Truman signed had to do with keeping legal guest workers flowing across the border to harvest U. According to Truman archivist Kelly, the new legislation established reception centers to house temporarily legal immigrants from Mexico while the government found employment for them. Truman said in signing it, "We must make sure that contract wages will in fact be paid, that transportation within this country and adequate reception centers for Mexican workers will in fact be provided.
We figure, based on the official historical tables, that more than , were formally deported and more than 3. But the deportations and quasi-voluntary departures had nothing to do with creating jobs for returning veterans, as claimed in the chain e-mail.
As Truman noted in a news conference on Oct. He said , veterans remained unemployed, and that "is still higher than any of us like to see it.
Truman actually wanted to do more than he was able to stem illegal immigration. He said he would ask Congress for stricter sanctions against employers who harbor illegal aliens, and would also seek clear authority for INS inspectors to raid workplaces without search warrants.
The term "wetback" is a disparaging term applied to Mexicans who swam or waded across the Rio Grande River — and today is considered an ethnic slur. Since the officially claimed figure was 1. The "Handbook of Texas," sponsored by the Texas State Historical Association, says in its entry on "Operation Wetback" that the number forced to leave is "probably less than 1.
Handbook of Texas: The INS claimed as many as 1,,, though the number officially apprehended did not come anywhere near this total. The INS estimate rested on the claim that most aliens, fearing apprehension by the government, had voluntarily repatriated themselves before and during the operation. We also contacted the Dwight D. Indeed, the staff turned up a report to Cabinet dated Jan.
Report to the Cabinet, Jan. It was announced June 9, , and focused initially on California and Arizona. According to the Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, page 31 federal officials set up roadblocks and stopped trains at points at some distance north of the border. Some Border Patrol agents, using jeeps, trucks, automobiles and spotter airplanes, used a system described officially as "blocking it off and mopping it up. By mid-July, , the operation was extended to Texas.
And it eventually encompassed "mopping up" activities in northern cities as well, according to the Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service :. INS, : These activities were followed by mopping up operations in the interior and special mobile force units are continuing to discover illegal aliens who have eluded initial sweeps through such cities as Spokane, Chicago, Kansas City and St.
Louis, which removed 20, illegal Mexican aliens from industrial jobs. Mexican nationals were shipped back using trucks, buses, planes and ships. According to the Texas State Historical Society, the use of ships was discontinued after some drownings caused a public outcry in Mexico.
Handbook of Texas: Ships were a preferred mode of transport because they carried the illegal workers farther away from the border than did buses, trucks, or trains. The boat lift continued until the drowning of seven deportees who jumped ship from the Mercurio provoked a mutiny and led to a public outcry against the practice in Mexico.
Other aliens, particularly those apprehended in the Midwest states, were flown to Brownsville and sent into Mexico from there. As we said, the operation lasted only a few months, not the "two years" claimed in the e-mail message.
Nevertheless, INS officials later claimed the operation had been a complete success and that the U. The border has been secured. More than half a century later, history has shown that official claim to be a fantasy, just like nearly all the claims made by this chain e-mail. In fact, about the only true statement in it is that "we never hear about" the events it describes.
Koch, Wendy, " U. Balderrama, Francisco E. Government Printing Office. Koestler, Fred L. Weissenbach, Karl. Director, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.
Email message to FactCheck. Schaefer, Matthew T. Archivist, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. Kelly, Tammy.
The Immigration Act had established strict quotas for immigration from Europe, Asia and Africa, but did not limit immigration from North or South America. As long as migrants had a visa and a job, they could stay as long as they wished.
Any migrant without a valid visa could be deported at any time, and any migrant, temporary or permanent, could be deported if they became a public charge. Local law enforcement agencies were the primary means for apprehending illegal immigrants, and the burden of proof was on the migrant to show a valid visa and employment.
There was an important loophole — if migrants left the country voluntarily, there were no repercussions and they could return in the future, but if they were officially deported and subsequently returned to the U.
As unemployment climbed during the Great Depression, most American citizens believed that jobs and charity should be reserved for Americans, and that non-citizens should return to their home countries. State and local law enforcement, with the encouragement of the Bureau of Immigration, stepped up efforts to apprehend petty criminals and public charges for deportation, which resulted in only modest though often well-publicized increases in official deportations.
Official deportations to all countries were 16, in , 18, in and 19, in As the Depression worsened, private businesses and industry often took matters into their own hands. In Detroit, for example, the automakers fired many of their Hispanic workers, including legal migrants and even American citizens of Hispanic descent.
Without jobs, many chose to leave the country rather than risk a deportation hearing. In some cases they left after being threatened or detained by local law enforcement or Bureau of Immigration officials. Others were alarmed by the anti-immigrant rhetoric or hostile attitude of their neighbors.
Sometimes, local or state governments, or even private charities, would pay the transportation costs for the repatriates to leave the country.
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