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Journalists, Legal Scholars, Opinion Leaders Slam Trump’s “Operation Wetback” Praise

by Gabe Ortiz on

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Donald Trump’s repeated praise of one of the darkest moments in modern American history — a 1954 mass roundup and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Mexico, known by the hugely offensive name of “Operation Wetback” — has drawn widespread criticism from journalists, legal scholars, and opinion leaders from all political spectrums.

From attorney Raul Reyes, “Sorry Trump, ‘Operation Wetback’ Was a National Disgrace”:

Although Trump glibly describes “Operation Wetback” as moving undocumented immigrants “waaay south,” this program was at best inhumane and at worst horrific. Back then, the government rounded up suspected undocumented immigrants and sent them deep into the Mexican interior, where they were abandoned with next to nothing.

The transports across the border were reportedly “indescribable scenes of human misery and tragedy.” In one instance, 88 deportees died from heat stroke in the desert. Other deportees were sent to the Mexican Gulf Coast by ship, in vessels described by historians as an “eighteenth century slave ship” or “penal hell ship.” As Rolling Stone Magazinenoted, “nearly a million human beings were terrorized by our government and treated with less dignity than farm animals.”

Among these so-called “wetbacks” were the U.S-born children of undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens who were mistakenly caught up in government sweeps. Border patrol officers also shaved the heads of suspected undocumented immigrants, ostensibly so that they could identify them if they attempted to return; in reality, a humiliating violation of their human rights.

Last night was not the first time that Trump – currently Public Enemy No. 1 among Latinos – has praised Eisenhower’s deeply flawed program. Trump mentioned “Operation Wetback” in a September interview with 60 Minutes Overtime as well. When Scott Pelley prodded him with “There is something called civil rights,” Trump responded, “There’s also something called, ‘We have a country.”

Perhaps such a dismissive attitude towards human suffering and civil rights is to be expected coming from Trump. Maybe this is just his latest line of inflammatory speech. But it is still shocking to hear his dangerous rhetoric from center stage at a debate watched by millions.

Trump is right about one thing: We do have a country. We have a country where all people – not specifically citizens – are considered equal. We have a country moving towards full inclusion and civil rights for all. We have a country with values anathema to the xenophobia that inspired “Operation Wetback.”

Trump’s idea to revive “Operation Wetback” should offend all Americans. It bespeaks an appalling lack of compassion as well as a profound ignorance of history.

Fox News host Geraldo Rivera, “Bringing back the shame of ‘Operation Wetback’”:

During last night’s GOP presidential debate on Fox Business, @RealDonaldTrump invoked a melancholy chapter in American history, heaping praise on a draconian 1954 federal initiative to forcibly deport tens of thousands of undocumented Mexican immigrants. To prevent repeat violators, the immigrant’s heads were often shaven so they would stand out to the Border Patrol. Many immigrants complained of beatings and abuse.

To prevent their attempts to return, thousands of them, many hailing from border towns close to the United States, were sent by ship, bus and train to areas deep inside Mexico and far from their homes.

As with Mr. Trump’s current plan, many Mexican-born U.S.-citizens were swept up with the truly undocumented. Citizen children were often forced out along with their parents. Stranded far from familiar territory, many struggled to find their way. In a single month, July 1955, 88 deported workers died in the scorching heat of the Sonora desert.

…history has come to regard “Operation Wetback” as a shocking reminder of our federal government run amok. I compare it to the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, where the U.S. government pretended to treat rural African-American men in Alabama between 1932 and 1972, only to let them suffer and die for research and, some presumed, social good.

@JebBush and @JohnKasich are right. The fabric of our society will be torn asunder by this return to this shameful chapter of forced deportations, now, of 11 million of our friends and neighbors. And for any candidate to suggest that it will be a good thing to throw out not only these otherwise law-abiding and hard-working adults, millions of whom have been here for a decade and more, but also to throw out their citizen-born children is, as Trump suggests, reminiscent of “Operation Wetback.”

As such, it would be an intolerable return to the bad, old days.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly:

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly challenged Donald Trump about the presidential candidate’s hardline immigration stance on Wednesday night.

Trump has promised to deport every undocumented immigrant and build a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. O’Reilly pointed out that the Eisenhower-era program Trump cited during the debate as proof that his plan would work was extremely flawed.

The controversial policy, known as “Operation Wetback,” sent at least 1 million people — including U.S. citizens — to Mexico in deplorable ways.

“That was brutal what they did to those people to kick them back,” O’Reilly said. “The stuff they did was really brutal, it could never happen today.”

“We would do it in a very humane way,” Trump said.

“I back you on the wall,” O’Reilly said. “But I also don’t think you could deport these people because the federal courts would stop you… each person has to have due process… you know that!”

O’Reilly has challenged the former reality TV star on his immigration plan before, but that criticism continues to fall on deaf ears.

Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson, “Donald Trump Just Endorsed ‘Operation Wetback’ at the GOP Debate”:

The treatment of those rounded up in “Operation Wetback” was ghastly. Many of those apprehended were shipped back to Mexico on cargo boats. A congressional investigation of one vessel, the Mercurio, where a mutiny erupted after seven deportees drowned, likened it to an “18th century slave ship,” or a “penal hell ship,”  according to a history published by Columbia University professor Mae M. Ngai.

In one roundup, hundreds of undocumented “braceros” were abandoned without provision in the blazing desert south of Mexicali. Eighty-eight people died of heat stroke — a toll that would have been much worse if the Red Cross had not intervened.

So there you have it: Donald Trump’s model for deporting undocumented immigrants “warmly and humanely” is an unabashedly racist program in which nearly a million human beings were terrorized by our government and treated with less dignity than farm animals.

This isn’t funny. It’s verging on fascist. Get woke, America: Donald Trump is dangerous.

Others expressed their shock on Twitter.