Replies

The American G.I. Forum, for instance, by and large had little or no sympathy for the man who crossed the border illegally. Apparently the Texas State Federation of Labor supported the G.I. Forum's position.

Eventually the two organizations coproduced a study entitled What Price Wetbacks?, which concluded that illegal aliens in United States agriculture damaged the health of the American people, that illegals displaced American workers, that they harmed the retailers of McAllen, and that the open-border policy of the American government posed a threat to the security of the United States. Critics of Operation Wetback considered it xenophobic and heartless.

Well, it looks like our concerns about Mexican illegal aliens in the United States hasn't changed much since the 1950's. All I want to know is when will we begin carrying out Operation Wetback II?

I can't blame anyone for wanting to be here. This is the best part of the world.

But for our own safety only those who play by the rules can be admitted, after a good check-up.

All illegal immigrants must be deported immediately.

I have said it before and I say it now, It is not wrongdoing to return a trespasser to their country of origin unharmed.

While I think it's important we enforce the law against illegal immigration, I'll bet all of next years rent money they'll never be any real attempt to deport illegals like this operation again. Politicians are tripping over themselves to pander to them. The governmnet has plans all right, but it's to keep them here with another amnesty, not send them home. Wish I was wrong, but it's a fact of life today.

The resulting Operation Wetback, a national reaction against illegal immigration, began in Texas in mid-July 1954. Headed by the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service, Gen. Joseph May Swing, the United States Border Patrol aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasimilitary operation of search and seizure of all illegal immigrants.

It is difficult to estimate the number of illegal aliens forced to leave by the operation. The INS claimed as many as 1,300,000, 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.

It just goes to show you what our federal government, in cooperation with the military and both state and local law enforcement agencies, can accomplish if they set their minds to it.