1)Did the deportation of all those illegals result in a farm labor shortage in 1954 and later. It didn't...because a new "guest" worker program was immediately put in place.
2)Could a modern version of Operation Wetback be put in place "quietly" as was done in 1953? Absolutely not...because the Internet has replaced the major networks as a source of news (or - less controversially - supplemented them)...and because America and the World are not what they were 50 years ago.
You want to claim that leaders of the past disregarded world opinion. That's complete nonsense. Hitler and Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill were very conscious of its power and did everything they could to manipulate it favorably. Eisenhower and Truman the same - despite your foolish claims. They were better at it than Bush - much better - but that's easy since he's one of the least skilled we've ever had.
I've never said that concern with the opinion of others should determine our policies. I merely pointed out that modern day Presidents will have a harder time of it than Ike did.
It was pointed out by others that a professional BP-ICE appointment from within would be even better for staff moral and I grant that is sensible, if and only if, that person would get the administration's political backing to be able to do the job envisioned.
We can argue about impact in the future -- that is certainly valuable, but arguing about Bush versus Truman is useless to determining a course for this month.
I don't think any party is dealing with this well right now and see no better alternative for this administration.
If this administrations failure due to future political strength is your first preference and we can set that aside for serious discussion of other points, what is wrong with this as an implementable solution with economic issues to be dealt with as they arise?