Thread: Food for thought on "Operation Wetback" looking ba

Food for thought "Operation Wetback" and the already tried Amnesty program results:

Seems there is nothing that has not been tried before from amnesty to a militarized "Mexican Repatriation act" called operation wetback... both failed. I think it is very important to look back so that past mistakes are not made again.

1. Amnesty only created a bigger problem.
2. A military repatriation action was deemed a "police action" was stopped and also failed.
http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/histo ... ne/20.html

Since 1954 the Federal government has been stymied as to what to do next so they have done nothing. The answer has been staring the Feds and the country in the face the whole time...

Go to the Constitution and the laws already on the books!

The ground work this time must be laid carefully. This problem took over a 100 years to create. I am proud of my State of Arizona for being first to take the correct steps to lay down a legal and constitutionally defined frame work for this problem. The new laws will basically destroy the illegal magnets which will slow or stop new illegals from coming to AZ while pushing the IA already here back across the boarder. It will also allow legal lawful deportations.

The "new" laws in Arizona are not really new. They have been here...but not enforced. I think that the pioneering efforts of Local Arizona Sheriff Joe Aparo should be thanked for pioneering the enforcement of the law and the immense legal and social pressures he is still under.

It will take some time for these laws to go into effect here and more time to fully see the effects/results but they are working already and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I see many For Rent signs in the Latino areas and there are not nearly as many on the streets or in the stores here.

Hopefully...even if the Feds devise a plan for amnesty or work permits for those already in the country...they will not work here under the new Arizona laws.

Anyone regardless of race will have to show valid legal entry documentation to apply for any kind of license or service or permits or visas or passports or for schools or work or anything...and to do that it will have to start with them returning to their home lands...where ever that may be.

I guess we are the test case for the Nation...stay tuned...because I think a lot of States will follow suit... But no matter how you slice it...this is going to be a long and painful battle for the Nation.

How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico

George W. Bush isn't the first Republican president to face a full-blown immigration crisis on the US-Mexican border.

Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond.

President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents – less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.

Although there is little to no record of this operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. William Fulbright (D) of Arkansas. The senator had just proposed that a special commission be created by Congress to examine unethical conduct by government officials who accepted gifts and favors in exchange for special treatment of private individuals.

General Eisenhower, who was gearing up for his run for the presidency, said "Amen" to Senator Fulbright's proposal. He then quoted a report in The New York Times, highlighting one paragraph that said: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government."

Years later, the late Herbert Brownell Jr., Eisenhower's first attorney general, said in an interview with this writer that the president had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration when he took office.

America "was faced with a breakdown in law enforcement on a very large scale," Mr. Brownell said. "When I say large scale, I mean hundreds of thousands were coming in from Mexico [every year] without restraint."

Although an on-and-off guest-worker program for Mexicans was operating at the time, farmers and ranchers in the Southwest had become dependent on an additional low-cost, docile, illegal labor force of up to 3 million, mostly Mexican, laborers.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, published by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association, this illegal workforce had a severe impact on the wages of ordinary working Americans. The Handbook Online reports that a study by the President's Commission on Migratory Labor in Texas in 1950 found that cotton growers in the Rio Grande Valley, where most illegal aliens in Texas worked, paid wages that were "approximately half" the farm wages paid elsewhere in the state.

Profits from illegal labor led to the kind of corruption that apparently worried Eisenhower. Joseph White, a retired 21-year veteran of the Border Patrol, says that in the early 1950s, some senior US officials overseeing immigration enforcement "had friends among the ranchers," and agents "did not dare" arrest their illegal workers.

Walt Edwards, who joined the Border Patrol in 1951, tells a similar story. He says: "When we caught illegal aliens on farms and ranches, the farmer or rancher would often call and complain [to officials in El Paso]. And depending on how politically connected they were, there would be political intervention. That is how we got into this mess we are in now."

Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33 years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still fueling the flow of illegals.

During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old Boy" system changed under Eisenhower – if only for about 10 years.

In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.

Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said. But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him – and the Border Patrol – from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html

PAGE TWO:

One of Swing's first decisive acts was to transfer certain entrenched immigration officials out of the border area to other regions of the country where their political connections with people such as Senator Johnson would have no effect.

Then on June 17, 1954, what was called "Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states. Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.

By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.

By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the Lone Star State voluntarily.

Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.

Tens of thousands more were put aboard two hired ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried the aliens from Port Isabel, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles south.

The sea voyage was "a rough trip, and they did not like it," says Don Coppock, who worked his way up from Border Patrolman in 1941 to eventually head the Border Patrol from 1960 to 1973.

Mr. Coppock says he "cannot understand why [President] Bush let [today's] problem get away from him as it has. I guess it was his compassionate conservatism, and trying to please [Mexican President] Vincente Fox."

There are now said to be 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated 85 percent are here illegally.

Border Patrol vets offer tips on curbing illegal immigration
One day in 1954, Border Patrol agent Walt Edwards picked up a newspaper in Big Spring, Texas, and saw some startling news. The government was launching an all-out drive to oust illegal aliens from the United States.

The orders came straight from the top, where the new president, Dwight Eisenhower, had put a former West Point classmate, Gen. Joseph Swing, in charge of immigration enforcement.

General Swing's fast-moving campaign soon secured America's borders – an accomplishment no other president has since equaled. Illegal migration had dropped 95 percent by the late 1950s.

Several retired Border Patrol agents who took part in the 1950s effort, including Mr. Edwards, say much of what Swing did could be repeated today.

"Some say we cannot send 12 million illegals now in the United States back where they came from. Of course we can!" Edwards says.

Donald Coppock, who headed the Patrol from 1960 to 1973, says that if Swing and Ike were still running immigration enforcement, "they'd be on top of this in a minute."

William Chambers, another '50s veteran, agrees. "They could do a pretty good job" sealing the border.

Edwards says: "When we start enforcing the law, these various businesses are, on their own, going to replace their [illegal] workforce with a legal workforce."

While Congress debates building a fence on the border, these veterans say other actions should have higher priority.

1. End the current practice of taking captured Mexican aliens to the border and releasing them. Instead, deport them deep into Mexico, where return to the US would be more costly.

2. Crack down hard on employers who hire illegals. Without jobs, the aliens won't come.

3. End "catch and release" for non-Mexican aliens. It is common for illegal migrants not from Mexico to be set free after their arrest if they promise to appear later before a judge. Few show up.

The Patrol veterans say enforcement could also be aided by a legalized guest- worker program that permits Mexicans to register in their country for temporary jobs in the US. Eisenhower's team ran such a program. It permitted up to 400,000 Mexicans a year to enter the US for various agriculture jobs that lasted for 12 to 52 weeks.

• John Dillin is former managing editor of the Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s ... html/(page)/2

hardlineconstutionalist wrote:

Seems there is nothing that has not been tried before from amnesty to a militarized "Mexican Repatriation act" called operation wetback... both failed. I think it is very important to look back so that past mistakes are not made again.

Why do you consider Operation ........ a failure? It is my understanding the program lived up to its expectations.

[quote="hardlineconstitutionalist"]How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico

hardline, only the names have changed.

Was glad to see this one again. It's a wonderful antidote to the "We can't deport 12 million people" nonsense. BTW 'Bama is one who actually did say that. Would love to see him face to face with Ike.

Originally Posted by vistalad

Originally Posted by hardlineconstitutionalist

hardline, "We can't deport 12 million people"

Oh yes we can!

Originally Posted by sarum

Originally Posted by vistalad

Originally Posted by hardlineconstitutionalist

hardline, "We can't deport 12 million people"

Oh yes we can!

Actually we shouldn't have to deport them all. Attrition through enforcement is real and it works. Many would eventually go home on their own if our immigration laws were enforced as written. You'll see a great example of this once the Arizona law goes into effect. Just watch, the illegals will be scurrying out of Arizona so fast it'll make your head spin. It has already been reported that some are leaving now as a result of the law.

What choice would illegal have if they had no access to jobs and benefits? Living in constant fear of apprehension and deportation, combined with no jobs and/or benefits would leave them with no choice. They'll have to go home, because their survival will depend on it.

Originally Posted by MW

hardlineconstutionalist wrote:

Seems there is nothing that has not been tried before from amnesty to a militarized "Mexican Repatriation act" called operation wetback... both failed. I think it is very important to look back so that past mistakes are not made again.

Why do you consider Operation ........ a failure? It is my understanding the program lived up to its expectations.

It was voted down and stopped. Found to be unconstitutional. If it had succeeded fully it would still be in operation. That is why I say we don't want to fail again. We want and need laws that are upheld and that are not over turned. Arizona was and is being very cautious in the wording and implementation of the new laws. That is a good thing to me. Yes? :P

Originally Posted by MW

Actually we shouldn't have to deport them all. Attrition through enforcement is real and it works. Many would eventually go home on their own if our immigration laws were enforced as written. What choice would illegal have if they had no access to jobs and benefits?

I wish that I could agree with that. The problem is that right now the people who are apprehended at worksites are not deported. So if their illegal families are receiving public assistance, that money remains available while the one apprehended remains free to find another employer who'll look the other way, to save a few bucks.

'Bama, Nancy Unamerican, and Reid are not to stop pandering to undocumented Democrats. The liberal media will be filled with stories about illegals who are suffering, even tho they just want to work. Without deportations we'll be caught in an unending cycle, and wannabe illegals will know it's OK to continue sneaking in our country.

Originally Posted by MW

Originally Posted by sarum

Originally Posted by vistalad

Originally Posted by hardlineconstitutionalist

hardline, "We can't deport 12 million people"

Oh yes we can!

Actually we shouldn't have to deport them all. Attrition through enforcement is real and it works. Many would eventually go home on their own if our immigration laws were enforced as written. You'll see a great example of this once the Arizona law goes into effect. Just watch, the illegals will be scurrying out of Arizona so fast it'll make your head spin. It has already been reported that some are leaving now as a result of the law.

What choice would illegal have if they had no access to jobs and benefits? Living in constant fear of apprehension and deportation, combined with no jobs and/or benefits would leave them with no choice. They'll have to go home, because their survival will depend on it.

I live in the heart of Phx on Central AV. I see out my window what is happening. This is why I try so hard to help other understand that this is not a one legged law. There is nothing stronger than a tripod. We can't try to utilize only one supposed cure for the IA problem. Deportation on its own is the race card trump ace in the hole that the dems and libs want us to try to use.

1.We need the immigration laws in full force.

2. The borders being secured.

3. Internal enforcement to stop the entitlement and employment magnets.

When these three enforcement issues are implemented together we have a chance at a real long lasting legal and constitutional answer to the immigration problems. No amnesty rewards for law brakers...