Speech #940021336

Mr. Speaker. the following article by Frank del Olmo appeared in the Los Angeles Times on February 23. 1975. The renewed Interest in "illegal immigration" again coincides with the hysteria of an economic depression. There are growing fears of a new witch hunt In the Spanishspeaking community. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is fanning the hysteria that is developing by publicizing their fantastically Inflated figures of illegal immigration. Attorney General Silberman and INS Commissioner. Leonard F. Chapman testified on February 4. 1975. before the House Subcommittee on Immigration. Citizenship. and International Law that they believed there were between 4 and 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States and 80 percent3.2 to 8.6 millionof them were of Mexican descent. According to the Bureau of Census the 1970 census showed 4.5 million Mexican Americans in the United States. This figure was later revised because of a drastic undercount of 38.8 percent and the 1973 figure for Mexican Americans has been revised to 6.3 million. If the INS figures are accurate the entire Southwest population of Mexican Americans must be illegal aliens. Obviously the INS figures are inaccurate and the Mexican American population in the United States has reason to fear fresh turmoil from the INS. The article follows: WHY CITIZEN CHIcANOs FEAR Tusason. (By Frank del Olmo) For more than 50 yearsfrom 1905 or 1907 when she left her native Mexico. until 1962 when she diedmy grandmother lived in this country as an illegal alien. All but one of her many children were born In this country. and every one of them went on to become substantial citizens. But Dofia Josefina herself simply never got around to becoming a citizen or. to the best of my knowledge. even registering as a resident alien. I think she always lived with the lingering hope that she would someday return to Mexico. like many other immigrants of her generation. She did not enter the United States illegally. For when my grandmother and her first husband crossed the border. somewhere in Arizona. this nation still had a virtual open door for immigrants from Latin AmerIca. Historically. there had always been free interchange back and forth across the 2.000 miles of border between the United States and Mexico. Immigration was unobstructed. and actually encouraged. as long as the young industries of the sparsely settled Southwestagriculture. mining and the railroadsneeded a plentiful supply of cheap labor. It was only in the 1920s. after passage of the first immigration laws which set quotas on immigration from Europe. that the first efforts were made to limit immigration from Mexico and the rest of the Western Bemisphere nations. The debates over these proposals--which were often tinged with racist rhetorio--followed massive immigration from Mexico during the bloody revolution of 191017. No laws were passed setting numerical quotas on Western Hemisphere immigration until the 1960s. but in fact the gates slowly began to close in the 1920s. There were more bureaucratic procedures and requirements to be met by immigrants. and in 1924 the U.S. Border Patrol was established. While most Chicanos may not be familiar with the history of Mexican immigration to this country. most do know the story of their own families. These family histories are what pose such an emotional dilemma for MexicanAmericans whenever we must face up to the issues posed by illegal immigration from Mexico and the rest of Latin America in the present day. But we also have a very pragmatic reason to be wary of many of the suggested "solutions" to illegal immigration these days. Most Chicanos know that when measures have been taken in the past against unwanted immigrants. MexicanAmericans have been affected by the turmoil and even caught up in it. The first major crackdown on Mexican immigration occurred in the 1930s. Federal and local officials in many parts of the Southwest decided that one way to deal with the unemployment and rising welfare costs caused by the Depression was to "repatriate" thousands of MexicanAmerican families. While some Mexicans were simply rounded up and forcibly deported during these years. many others left voluntarily. hoping to find their old homeland more hospitable than their adopted one. In the majority of cases. immigrants were coerced into leaving or "encouraged" to do so. A common method of encouraging repatriation was to threaten an end to relief assistance unless a family agreed to leave. Another was for an agency. like Los Angeles County. to pay train fare to the border for whole trainloads of MexicanAmerican families. Like refugees. Los Repatriados usually took with them only a few important belongings. They also took with them many children who were United States citizens. Estimates of the number of MexicanAmericans repatriated at that time range from 90.000 to 200.000. Estimates for California vary from 50.000 to 75.000. with half of them from the Los Angeles area. The movement of immigration was reversed again in World War II. While the sons and daughters of earlier Mexican immigrants served in the armed forces and worked in defense plants. thousands of Mexican braceros were recruited by the U.S. government to fill manpower needs on the farms and railroads of the Southwest. But with the braceros came thousands more illegal aliens. men encouraged by their compatriots stories of high wages and ready employment in this country. In the first dozen years of the bracero agreement. illegal alien arrests in the United States rose incredibly. from 40.000 in the 194044 period to 3.4 million by 19501954. More than 98% of the illegal aliens in the latter period came from Mexico. The climax in this wave of illegal immigration was Operation Wetback in 1954. the most massive and highly organized effort in U.S. history to deport illegal immigrants. A "special mobile force" of 300 immigration officers carried out the operation with the assistance of local law enforcement agencies. Their efforts were concentrated in Southern California and Texas. but also reached cities like Chicago. St. Louis and Kansas City. About 1.700 aliens a day were deported at its peak. and by the end of 1954 more than 1 million aliens had been expelled. the most ever in a single year. Operation Wetback left the MexicanAmerican community. smaller and more quiescent than it is today. alienated and fearful. Many Chicano activists of todaywho were older than I was thentell me they can still recall the sense of unease felt in many MexicanAmerican barrios in those days. The massive deportation drive was preceded by the same kind of negative publicity and public debate about illegal immigration we are seeing and hearing now. There were reports of aliens contributing to high crime rates. welfare costs and unemployment in a time of postKorean War recession. The historical parallels to the present day are obvious. Many Chicanos are wondering aloud if a new repatriation drive or Operation Wetback will soon be upon us. I hope not. for with the changes that have occurred in the Chicano community over the last decade. any such campaign would probably be met with stiff resistance. both political and perhaps physical. This is not to say Chicanos would try. or should try. to obstruct legislation like the Rodino bill or other proposals designed to bring illegal immigration and its attendant problems under control. We should be very critical of any such legislation. however. demanding that it be carefully written and applied humanely and judiciously.