top of page

Operation Wetback

1954

Operation Wetback was a United States immigration law enforcement campaign. It was created by the United States Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr. It was then approved by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The term “wetback” is a derogatory term for Mexicans that had illegally crossed the border of the United States. [2] This operation had two main goals. The first goal was to filter out and eliminate the illegal and undocumented immigrants. The second was to shame the employers that decided to employee the illegal and undocumented immigrants. [2] There were employers in Texas, specifically, that preferred to hire undocumented Mexican workers.

Highlights the mass deportation plan implemented by the United States in 1954. Closed captions available.

1.png

A group of Mexicans who were taken off freight trains in Los Angeles, after two days without food or water, 1953. Getty Images.

The Bracero Program had no effect on the undocumented immigration. Most of the immigrants would enter undocumented if they were not given a contract under the Bracero Program. [3] Eisenhower initially implemented a law about hiring undocumented immigrants. The law was a result to trouble for the employers that hired undocumented immigrants. It was hard to prove the knowledge level of the employers in terms of their employees’ documentation status. Since that approach did not work, General Brownell Jr chose a wide attack on all Mexican immigrants. He decided to treat the operation as an invasion or mass clean out. [2] The operation could simply be seen as a deportation mission. In the end, thousands of immigrants were arrested and deported back to Mexico. The immigrants also were sent away through inhumane ways of transportation.

Finding Freedom

The United States went to extreme measures to control the migration of Mexicans to America. The Mexicans were treated unfairly and weren’t given a fair chance to live their lives. People should have the freedom to choose where and how they live their lives. The United States did not take the time to draft an idea that was suitable for both the country and the Mexican immigrants. The transportation of the immigrants was unnecessarily inhumane. They were starved and beaten while being forcibly shipped back to their country. Their movement was restricted and their freedom was taken away by the United States.

2.png

U.S. Border Patrol officer Richard McCown shows how he found Felipe Ramirez Perez, a 6-foot illegal Mexican immigrant, curled up on the engine beneath the hood of this automobile, at the U.S.-Mexican border at San Diego, Calif., March 15, 1954. Perez is held for illegal entry, awaiting deportation, and Felix Mercado Gutierrez, the driver of the car, is charged with attempt to smuggle Perez into the United States, 1954. Credit: AP Photo.

Bibliography

  1. Blakemore, E. (2018, March 23). The Largest Mass Deportation in American History. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/operation-wetback-eisenhower-1954-deportation2.

  2. Funderburk, B. (2017, September 04). Operation Wetback. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Operation-Wetback

  3. García, M. (1981). The Public Historian, 3(2), 121-125. doi:10.2307/3377235

  4. News, T. (2018, February 19). "Operation Wetback": The 1954 mass deportation scheme praised by Donald Trump. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Wzh02F9jDbE&feature=youtu.be

bottom of page