I've
been hearing a lot of talk from politicians lately, from both sides
of the aisle, about the impossibility of stopping, or at least
slowing, the flood of illegals crossing our border with Mexico. “We
just need to deal with it,” they say. “It's impossible to stop.”
Every time I hear one of our elected representatives utter something
along these lines, my mouth just drops open. The stupidity in just
stunning, and remember, these are *supposed* to be the best and
brightest among us. I did some digging into how the Unites States
has dealt with the problem of criminal aliens before, and I was
flabbergasted by what I found. With that in mind, I think it's time
for another history lesson from For Love Of Country - this one about
how the U.S. dealt with criminal aliens as recently as the
mid-1950's.
Operation
Wetback (I did NOT make that name up)
Prior to
1943, more Unites States Border Control Officers were stationed along
the U.S.-Canadian border than the U.S.-Mexican border. Angry Mexican
land and farm owners, frustrated with the Bracero
program (Briefly, Bracero was a program in the U.S. Which allowed
Mexican workers to cross the border to work as replacements for the
men fighting in WW2. In short – Mexico was losing workers to the
U.S.), pressured the Mexican government to call for a meeting in
Mexico City with the United States Departments of Justice and State,
as well as the Immigration and Naturalization Service and U.S. Border
Patrol.
This
meeting yielded increased border patrols along the southern border,
with resultant increased deportations, yet criminal aliens still
flooded across the border. Many deportees returned to the U.S. side
of the border as quickly as their legs could carry them. To combat
this, in 1945 the Mexican and American governments devised a strategy
to deport Mexicans deeper into Mexico using planes, boats, and
trains. In 1954, however, negotiations over the Bracero program
stalled, prompting Mexico to station 5000 troops along the
U.S.-Mexican border. In response, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed General Joseph Swing as INS
Commissioner, charging him with mending border control issues so that
the negotiations would stabilize.
While
Operation Wetback wasn't formally announced until May 1954, planning
between the General Swing-led INS and the Mexican government actually
began earlier that same year. On 17 MAY 1954, command teams
consisting of twelve Border Patrol Agents, buses, planes, and
temporary processing stations began locating, processing, and
deporting Mexicans in the United States illegally. A mere 750
Immigration and Border Patrol officers and investigators, 300 jeeps,
cars, and buses, and seven aircraft were all that was allotted for
the operation. Teams focused on the quick processing and
deportation, while the planes were able to efficiently coordinate the
ground efforts and increase mobility. Deportees were handed off to
Mexican officials, who quickly sent them to central Mexico, where
labor opportunities were plentiful. While Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and Chicago were included in the operation, the main focus
was on the border areas in Texas and California.
During
the first year of Operation Wetback, there were 1,078,168
apprehensions and deportations were made overall, with 170,000
captured form just May to July 1954. The total number of
apprehensions would fall to 242,608 in 1955, and continued falling
year by year, until a slight rise in apprehended criminals in 1962.
During
the entirety of Operation Wetback, border recruitment of criminal
aliens by American farmers continued, largely due to the cheap labor
of criminal aliens, as well as the desire of farmers to avoid the
bureaucracy of the Bracero
program; that illegal immigration continued, despite the efforts of
Operation Wetback, was largely responsible for the “failure” of
the program. Despite the decline in apprehensions, the total number
of Border Patrol agents more than doubled to 1,692 by 1962, and an
additional plane was also added to the force. In terms of
apprehensions, Operation Wetback was immediately successful. The
program would also result in a more permanent, strategic border
control presence along the United States - Mexico border.
The
United States government had shown that they do not tolerate illegal
activities, sending back an average of 1,100 criminal aliens per day
– in an age with no cell phones, no computers, and none of the
sophisticated surveillance equipment accessible to law enforcement
today. Oh, and they did it with approximately 1/10th
the manpower that Border Patrol has today.
The
problems we have with illegal immigration can never be solved if we
don't secure the border first (which, by the way, is the “law of
the land”- just like Obamacare). Our own history shows that. To
the members of Congress that may read this, I say - BUILD THE DAMN
FENCE!!!
And yes,
it really IS that simple. ~ Hunter
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