Posted on 05/26/2005 6:56:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate voted Thursday to formally apologize for the deportation of Mexican-Americans citizens between 1929 and 1944 as part of a program that was designed to create jobs during the Depression.
About 2 million Hispanics, including 400,000 Californians, were sent to Mexico during that period. It was devised by the Hoover administration to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs, but most of the people deported were American citizens or legal immigrants, said Sen. Joe Dunn, the author of the bill.
Dunn, D-Santa Ana, learned of the little-known chapter in American history from a book he read on a transcontinental flight. The practice targeted anyone with a Mexican-sounding name and continued in California and other states after the Roosevelt administration cut off funding.
Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, said that when she was a little girl she watched helplessly as neighbors of Mexican descent were trucked and bused away from her neighborhood. Her family was spared because her father, of Spanish descent, had lighter hair and blue eyes.
"We stood in the doorway watching this horrendous situation taking place," Soto said. "It was probably the saddest day in the city."
Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, said the measure was akin to the federal government apologizing for slavery. Acknowledging such wrongs is the mark of a great nation, he said.
The bill would formally express an apology for the deportations and require the placement of a plaque in a public place to commemorate the deportees.
The Senate passed the measure 27-5, sending it to the Assembly.
In related action, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved another Dunn bill that would create a fund to pay reparations to surviving deportees who file claims. It would take separate legislation, however, to put money in that account.
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On the Net:
Read bills, SB670 and SB645, at http://www.sen.ca.gov/
Go figure.
Now does Mexico have to apologize for sending all those illegal aliens to California? Maybe everybody in the world should apologize to everybody else in the world and just get it all over with. And I apologize for this post.
My Stock in Hoover has gone up a lot.
No!
Not a bad idea...
Oh, I apologize.
This is a crime, as far as I am concerned. Deporting Americans because of their ethnicity? Doesn't sound right to me. I dont like apologies, however, how about a declaration that it was wrong, and then leave it at that.
Yeah, kind of makes him look like a visionary, doesn't it?
SAY WHAT?????????????
Herbert Hoover was president in 1944? Who woulda thunk?
The article says that the deportations took place between 1929 and 1944. Hoover may have started the policy but the majority of that time period FD Roosevelt was in office and he obviously didn't stop it. I wonder why the article fails to mention this hero of the left?
I agree with you on both points.
lol
You mean all we have to do is deport the illegal aliens and we can shorten our unemployment what a novel Idea.
No, that won't do. Apology is needed before financial demand for the injustice. No apology = no money.
I agree that an apology to our Americans who were Americans that were deported wrongly to Mexico deserve an apology and as I framed it is exactly how it should be worded IMO.
Dunn, D-Santa Ana, learned of the little-known chapter in American history from a book he read on a transcontinental flight.
Who is this clown? How long has he been a Senator? What was the name of the book that he was reading, so we might see for ourselves what he's talking about? Who does he serve, American or Mexican citizens. Did he take an oath of office? Did he campaign on dredging up anti-American BS when he was running for office?
He needs a piece of my mind and, I hope, a piece of many other American citizens in California. Why?
Quite simple. If he is unaware of the fiscal crisis that the State is under as we speak?
There are no more serious and relevant and contemporary problems that he can address?
How about the raise legislators gave themselves while the state is going broke?
How about building more powerplants so we can't get ripped off again by a criminal governor scoring campaign funding points?
How about discussing onerous public employee raises?
Public cockroaches like this one just make my blood boil.
Imagine, If we didn't have illegal immigrants, we could instead have the people who are now on Welfare today Doing thier jobs, the same jobs they did 40 years ago before Ted and LBJ screwed up American immigration and created the Welfare State.
LBJ WAS THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER!
Sadly, they are a dime a dozen these days in many legislatures across this country.
LBJ was as big a disapointment as Texas is Large
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