Trump's Cruel Attack on All Immigrants: Operation Wetback II

The mass deportation program the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s pursued is the closest and best historical corollary to such a proposal:

The only historical comparison to a mass deportation programme came in 1954, when as many as 1.3 million people were deported as part of Operation Wetback, named after a derogatory slur then commonly used against Mexican people. . . . The programme, under President Dwight Eisenhower, ran into considerable public opposition-partly because some US citizens were also deported – as well as a lack of funding. It was largely discontinued by 1955. Immigration experts say that the earlier operation’s focus on Mexican nationals and lack of due process makes it incomparable to what a modern-day mass deportation programme would look like. 

President Trump, however, proposes a militarized and very low due process round-up that likely would leave the 1950s program in the dust. In a Time Magazine interview Trump said: “So if you look back into the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower . . . was very big on illegal immigration not coming into our country. And he did a massive deportation of people.” The former President assumes he can do the job with the National Guard, but Trump promises to use the military if necessary, claiming that no federal law prohibits the use of the military against non-civilians. Indeed, it appears that Trump will accord those ensnared in this military operation zero due process,, as he makes clear in this video, from his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He states: “We will pick them up and we will throw them out of our country and there will be no questions asked.”

Trump will also not rule out the use of detention camps. Trump’s top immigration advisor, the notoriously racist Stephen Miller, said: “Because of the logistical challenges…you would need to build an extremely large holding area for illegal immigrants that at any given points in time . . . could hold upwards of 50, 60, 70,000 illegal aliens while you are waiting to send them . . . somewhere that would be willing to accept them.” 

Make no mistake, Trump promises cruel and brutal treatment for those rounded-up, otherwise why would he work so hard to dehumanize and demonize migrants? Alfonso Aguilar, of the American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership, states: “The Eisenhower mass deportation policy was tragic, human rights were violated. People were removed to distant locations without food and water. There were many deaths, unnecessary deaths. Sometimes even U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin, of Mexican origin were removed. It was a travesty. It was terrible. Immigrants were humiliated.” In her book Impossible Subjects, Mae Ngai writes that many Mexicans were deported by ship. A congressional investigation, according to the book, compared the conditions on the ship to that of an “eighteenth century slave ship.“

Trump and his MAGA cult consistently dehumanize migrants and propagate the most heinous lies about them–calling them animals and wrongfully accusing them of eating pets. They do this to pave the way for unspeakable evil. This evil plotting constitutes the core of their campaign an features in every rally and every campaign event. Dehumanization and demonization is the way to get many people to engage in deeply immoral and evil misconduct.

Miller himself admits that much of this will occur pursuant to a “shock and awe blitz of Executive Orders” such that the slow-moving courts will not keep pace with the Trump plan. Miller promises that the next Trump Administration will not include those counseling compliance with law; instead, officials will prepare to move quickly on Day 1.“Trump will unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown,” Miller led the Trump Administration’s family separation policy which courts found unlawful but which still inflicted permanent cruelty upon children, many of whom remain separated from their families.

Worse yet this fast-moving mass round-up campaign will combine with Trump’s promise to abolish birthright citizenship to create a perfect storm of lawless cruelty, which I will focus upon in my next post.