23 July 2018 - OPERATION WETBACK

 OPERATION WETBACK

G'day folks,

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” reads the engraving on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. But throughout America’s history, poor immigrants have often been exploited for cheap labor and then discarded. Operation Wetback, named for a racist slur, was a massive deportation scheme that embodied this idea.

During the summer of 1954, hundreds of Border Patrol agents descended on cotton and citrus farms, cattle ranches, hotels, and restaurants all throughout the American Southwest. They boasted of nabbing 2,000 undocumented immigrants a day, resulting in the expulsion of more than a million people. 

Public parks were turned into detention centers. U.S. citizens who couldn’t quickly produce proof of their citizenship were swiftly deported. Many of those deported were sent to southern Mexico, regardless of where they were originally from, stranding them without family, money, or food.

During the 2015 Republican presidential primary debates, candidate Donald Trump praised President Dwight Eisenhower for his implementation of Operation Wetback. He said, “‘I like Ike,’ right? The expression. ‘I like Ike.’ Moved a million and a half illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn’t like it. Moved them way south. They never came back.”

Clancy's comment: Mm ... Interesting times with interesting attitudes. Tomorrow I will  be one of three judges for the Lions  Australian Youth of The Year and I will have the chance to ask the contestants three questions. Here they are:

A.   IF YOU WORKED PART-TIME IN A BUSINESS AND YOU NOTICED A WORKMATE BEING BULLIED OR HARASSED BY YOUR EMPLOYER  OR A FELLOW WORKER, WHAT WOULD YOU DO ABOUT IT?

B.   There are two sections of the Australian constitution that mention race. The first, section 25, says that the states can ban people from voting based on their race. The second, section 51(26), gives Parliament power to pass laws that discriminate against people based on their race. SHOULD THESE SECTIONS OF OUR CONSTITUTION BE REVOKED BY A REFERENDUM, AND WHY?

C.   SHOULD AUSTRALIA CONTINUE ITS POLICY OF HOLDING ASYLUM SEEKERS IN DETENTION CAMPS ON MANUS ISLAND AND NAURU? WHY?

 Their answers should be interesting, eh?

I'm ...