On mass deportation, if past is prologue … Do we know our history?
(Photo taken June 9, 1954; public domain, U.S. Border Patrol Museum.)
A top aide to President-elect Trump, Stephen Miller, says the new Trump Administration will launch mass deportations immediately, at 'light speed.'
As a candidate, Donald Trump pitched mass deportation a much-needed redo of a post-World War II roundup authorized by President Eisenhower. In other words, if popular nice-guy Eisenhower invoked mass deportation, then there is solid precedent to repeat the tactic.
After World War II, low wages in parts of the country combined with support for jobs for returning soldiers helped fuel political opposition to Mexican migrants. The Eisenhower Administration launched a mass deportation in June of 1954; the government claimed it sent a million-plus people of Mexican decent to Mexico.
The Eisenhower-era mass deportation was called — including by the press — Operation Wetback. Tens of thousands were put on buses, boats, and planes and sent to often-unfamiliar parts of Mexico.
Since then, the derogatory term wetback has faded from use, regarded as a racist slur.
As America prepares for another potential mass deportation, many learned citizens have little or no recollection of Operation Wetback. This gap in understanding our past is plausible because our history books omit Operation Wetback or offer skimpy, incomplete explanations.
I researched (with colleague Dr. Roger Aden at Ohio University) nine widely used high school history books. Five of these textbooks do not mention the 1954 mass deportation.
Three textbooks offered a single sentence about the action, with two of them describing it as 'a massive roundup of illegal immigrants' that would 'deport the illegals,' language that is inaccurate and indicates a distinct political perspective. A fourth textbook published a marginally more balanced paragraph that described Operation Wetback as a roundup to deport undocumented aliens.
Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (1993-2000), has stated that Operation Wetback 'was lawless; it was arbitrary; it was based on a lot of xenophobia, and it resulted in sizable large-scale violations of people's rights, including the forced deportation of U.S. citizens.'
None of the textbooks we reviewed included Meissner's statement.
We as a people are better served by a complete telling of our history, even if the narrative is uncomfortable. History textbooks are a prime source that should provide authoritative accounts shared nationally among emerging adults.
History textbooks should equip students (future voters) with a thorough, complete understanding of our past rather than selective content that erases or minimizes unjust government actions.
As the new Trump Administration implements its immigration plan, citing a 1950s-era mass deportation, we should have clear-eyed knowledge of our past.
(James P. Kelly, PhD, is an adjunct professor at Ohio University's School of Communication Studies)
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