"If you've been online recently you might know trump's plan to deport "Millions" of immigrants, well this is not new this has been going on for decades" --Paloma Bastos, 6th Grade
If you’ve been watching the news lately, you might have noticed a lot of talk about ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and if you’ve been keeping track of politics, you might have heard Trump's plan to deport “millions” of immigrants. Well, around the 1930s (the Great Depression), an act to deport immigrants affected many living in the States, and one specific person in my family who experienced this is still alive to this day, my abuelito (grandpa).
It was around the Great Depression when my abuelito got deported. He was 7 years old, and his family had lost their home in Berkeley. Around this time, they were conducting tons of mass deportations. There was the Mexican Repatriation Act, and later on, around the 1950s operation “wetback” was active. During this time, “The Border Patrol launched several campaigns to detain Mexicans, including many U.S.-born citizens, and expel them across the border.” Even though many of these immigrants had US citizenships, including my abuelito, they still got sent back to “their country”
How did they get sent back, though? During this time, the Mexican Repatriation Act was very active. “The government gave us train tickets for us to go to Michoacán… I was 7 years old…and my eldest sister was in high school,” said my abuelito, Ramon Cazares. What the Mexican Repatriation Act would do is they would come to families like my abuelito’s and say they’ll live better if they go back to “their country” (since it was the depression) and gave them free train tickets and made them sign documents saying that it was their choice to go back so that people couldn’t go back and say “you deported me!”
“When we went to Mexico, I couldn’t speak Spanish, so they took me out of school when I was eight years old,” Cazares continued. Many people who got deported couldn’t speak Spanish since they grew up in the US, so many got left uneducated, like Cazares.
“...I was eleven….then seven years later I returned to the United States and worked while on the Bracero plan…I would pick pears, peaches…” What Cazares is describing is how the Bracero plan would take Mexicans to the US and make them do work. But what was the Bracero program like?
According to the Library of Congress, “During World War II, the U.S. sought labor from millions of Braceros, who would return to their country of origin after their work permit expired. El Paso, Texas, the U.S. point of entry from Ciudad Juarez, served as a recruitment center for the program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture and independent farmer associations administered with the Farm Bureau managing English-language contracts. The United States and Mexico agreed on a set of protocols that would protect Braceros from discrimination and poor wages. Nonetheless, discrimination continued and Braceros experienced surcharges for room and board, deducted pay, and exposure to deadly chemicals.”
“It was 1945…Someone knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to be in the Bracero program in the United States,” Cazares explains. ”I went to a small city called Covina in California, now a big city near Los Angeles, and I picked oranges for two and a half years.”
“I finished the plan in 1947, and came back later to the United States to move back there, but they wouldn’t let me in,” Cazares continued.
“I told my mother I wanted to go back to the United States… when I went they wouldn’t let me in…until my father died I fixed my papers to come here (the United States), I had to tell them I was born in Berkeley, I was a Bracero, I went to military service…but before that it took four years to get into the United States,” Cazares explained. Cazares and many people had to suffer and go through so much just to go back to where they were born.
Even though my abuelito and his family suffered and went through poverty, they still stood up and fought despite the challenges. My abuelito, he came back and worked his butt off in the Bracero program, and was able to provide for himself and his family.
“To learn a language is pretty hard…But trying is the best thing to do because you never know what is gonna happen in the United States, right now the country is in power, but they're not always gonna be in power all the time,” said Cazares. These times are dark, but the world has already gone through this. Always know your rights.
It was around the Great Depression when my abuelito got deported. He was 7 years old, and his family had lost their home in Berkeley. Around this time, they were conducting tons of mass deportations. There was the Mexican Repatriation Act, and later on, around the 1950s operation “wetback” was active. During this time, “The Border Patrol launched several campaigns to detain Mexicans, including many U.S.-born citizens, and expel them across the border.” Even though many of these immigrants had US citizenships, including my abuelito, they still got sent back to “their country”
How did they get sent back, though? During this time, the Mexican Repatriation Act was very active. “The government gave us train tickets for us to go to Michoacán… I was 7 years old…and my eldest sister was in high school,” said my abuelito, Ramon Cazares. What the Mexican Repatriation Act would do is they would come to families like my abuelito’s and say they’ll live better if they go back to “their country” (since it was the depression) and gave them free train tickets and made them sign documents saying that it was their choice to go back so that people couldn’t go back and say “you deported me!”
“When we went to Mexico, I couldn’t speak Spanish, so they took me out of school when I was eight years old,” Cazares continued. Many people who got deported couldn’t speak Spanish since they grew up in the US, so many got left uneducated, like Cazares.
“...I was eleven….then seven years later I returned to the United States and worked while on the Bracero plan…I would pick pears, peaches…” What Cazares is describing is how the Bracero plan would take Mexicans to the US and make them do work. But what was the Bracero program like?
According to the Library of Congress, “During World War II, the U.S. sought labor from millions of Braceros, who would return to their country of origin after their work permit expired. El Paso, Texas, the U.S. point of entry from Ciudad Juarez, served as a recruitment center for the program, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture and independent farmer associations administered with the Farm Bureau managing English-language contracts. The United States and Mexico agreed on a set of protocols that would protect Braceros from discrimination and poor wages. Nonetheless, discrimination continued and Braceros experienced surcharges for room and board, deducted pay, and exposure to deadly chemicals.”
“It was 1945…Someone knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to be in the Bracero program in the United States,” Cazares explains. ”I went to a small city called Covina in California, now a big city near Los Angeles, and I picked oranges for two and a half years.”
“I finished the plan in 1947, and came back later to the United States to move back there, but they wouldn’t let me in,” Cazares continued.
“I told my mother I wanted to go back to the United States… when I went they wouldn’t let me in…until my father died I fixed my papers to come here (the United States), I had to tell them I was born in Berkeley, I was a Bracero, I went to military service…but before that it took four years to get into the United States,” Cazares explained. Cazares and many people had to suffer and go through so much just to go back to where they were born.
Even though my abuelito and his family suffered and went through poverty, they still stood up and fought despite the challenges. My abuelito, he came back and worked his butt off in the Bracero program, and was able to provide for himself and his family.
“To learn a language is pretty hard…But trying is the best thing to do because you never know what is gonna happen in the United States, right now the country is in power, but they're not always gonna be in power all the time,” said Cazares. These times are dark, but the world has already gone through this. Always know your rights.
