Nicole’s Reviews > Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s > Status Update

“As in the 1930s, events beyond political control may again end the controversy. In this instance…it will be the ravages of old age. The population of the US over 65 is aging twice as fast as the general population…the US will be forced to import a labor force.”

“One can only speculate what might have been achieved in the intervening period if the Mexican community had not been devastated by the massive travesty unleashed against it. In truth, that may well constitute the ultimate tragedy of the anti-Mexican movement during the Great Depression.”

Losing 1/3 of the Mexican population of the United States robbed them of community leaders and a generation of young intelligent minds that “stifled the socioeconomic development of the community.” Makes the case for why the Chicano movement couldn’t occur until 25 years later — something I’ve never considered before

“the failure to speak out in behalf of the Mexican community remains a black, irredeemable blot on the record of the American press.”

“While legal justification could be made for getting rid of unwanted aliens, it was an entirely different matter to deprive American citizens of their constutional rights solely because of the accident of birth. Instead of protesting, the media acquiesced in the despicable action by commending authorities for their zeal and success in getting rid of as many Mexicans as possible.”

“With the willing convivance of the Labor Department and the Immigration Service, and the collaboration of police and the court system, trumped-up charges were used to justify deporting Mexicans who advocated ending discrimination, better working conditions or desegregated schools.”

“Bearing the traumatic burden of being shipped ‘back’ to Mexico were those least able to cope with their plight: the children. Shipping them to Mexico so they could be ‘with their own kind’ was absolutely absurd. Although if Mexican ancestry, they considered themselves to be Americans and many spoke only a limited amount of Spanish.”

“In 1942 another minority group, the Japanese, also learned the bitter lesson that constitutional guarantees are meaningless when mob hysteria is accorded institutional or legal status.” OOF

“The foregoing work chronicles the tragedy of a people who, in spite of being maligned and mistreated by American society, refused to surrender to adversity. Like other immigrant groups, they were proud of the contributions they made to their adopted country.”

Private First Class Guy Louis Gabaldon singlehandedly captured more than one thousand Japanese on the island of Saipan — among the valiant book