Eisenhower made liars out of today’s amnesty proponents almost 60 years ago
While we are constantly being told by President Obama and Republican appeasers such as Sen. Marco Rubio, that we simply “cannot deport millions of people.” However, history proves this to be a lie….
In 1954, President Dwight David Eisenhower appointed his West Point classmate and 101st Airborne Division veteran Gen. Joseph “Jumpin’ Joe” Swing as head of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
On June 17, 1954, under the direction of President Eisenhower, Gen. Swing began a roundup of illegal aliens for deportation in what became known as “Operation Wetback.”
The operation initially began in California and Arizona but eventually spread to several other states. By the end of July, more than 50,000 illegal aliens had been arrested between the two states.
On July 15, 1954, the first day of operations in Texas, 4,800 illegal aliens were apprehended across the Lone Star state, with a daily average thereafter of about 1,100.
According to the INS, 80,000 illegal aliens had been taken into custody in Texas by September, with an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 leaving the state voluntarily or ‘self-deporting.’
Border Patrol agents also made apprehensions in Utah, Nevada and Idaho during this time.
The illegal aliens were sent back to Mexico on WWII-era army trucks, buses and trains into the interior of Mexico, rather than simply letting them go just on the other side of the border as would be done in later years.
Illegal aliens were even sent back to Mexico by ship. The Emancipation, for instance, ferried the Mexican nationals from Port Isabel, Texas, to Veracruz, Mexico.
The operation was over by the fall of 1954 with the INS claiming to have removed 1,300,000 (including self-deportations) illegal aliens from the American southwest in only a few months.
The reasons for Operation Wetback were much the same as those which exist today…The threat which large numbers of illegal aliens pose to the security of the United States (crime, higher financial burden for taxpayers, public health risk due to disease, etc.).
However, unlike today there was a man in the White House who took his oath to protect this country seriously and placed the safety of American citizens over that of cheap labor.
By the way, the entire operation was conducted with no more than 750 federal agents, only a fraction of the reported 20,000 + agents we have today.
Wild Thing’s comment..…………
I just can’t see Republicans winning elections if we allow all the illegals the ok like Rubo and others in gang of 8 want to do. That word illegal is just that…..law breakers.
Unfortunately he was the last President to take his oath seriously. Even our great Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to illegals. But, his son Michael did say that was his fathers biggest regret of his presidency.
When I was in high school in the 60’s INS used to have occassional neighborhood sweeps. The shout of “immigration” would cause panic in the houses where illegals lived. Many times there would be 12 to 15 in a small 2 bedroom house. Nowadays the mention of the word “immigration” brings a yawn as they know they are pretty much home free once they get over the border.