Operation Wetback
Operation Wetback was a 1954 project of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to remove illegal immigrants, primarily Mexican – known by the derogatory term "wetbacks" – from the southwestern United States.
Burgeoning numbers of these immigrants, discovered by the Border Patrol in the early 1950s, prompted INS Commissioner Gen. Joseph Swing to initiate the project.
The operation coordinated the Border Patrol and state and local police agencies to mount an aggressive crackdown, going as far as police sweeps of Mexican-American neighborhoods and random stops and ID checks of "Mexican-looking" people in a region with many Native Americans and native Hispanics.
Operation Wetback successfully deported approximately one million illegal Mexican immigrants in the space of almost a year, although its perceived heavy-handed methods raised among some people reactions of public outrage and accusations of police-state tactics, which forced the operation to end.[citation needed]
See also
- Illegal immigration to the United States
- Immigration to the United States
- Operation Gatekeeper
- Repatriation Movement
The use of the word "Successfully" implies a positive outcome was reached through this racist practice, and should likely be removed in order to avoid the appearance of support for such programs. Thank you.
"Operation Wetback successfully deported approximately one million illegal Mexican immigrants in the space of almost a year, although its perceived heavy-handed methods raised among some people reactions of public outrage and accusations of police-state tactics, which forced the operation to end.[citation needed]"
External links
- Operation Wetback from the Handbook of Texas Online
- "How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico", Editorial by John Dillin in Christian Science Monitor, June 6, 2006