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president Donald Trump is slated to give
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his first presidential address to
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Congress today uh Democratic lawmakers
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have begun giving their tickets away to
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immigrants as a protest against Trump's
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push to increase deportations and to
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block residents from some Muslim
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majority countries from entering the
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United States last week White House
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Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump
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wants to quote take the shackles off of
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the nation's immigration agents the
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president wanted to take the shackles
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off um individuals in these agencies and
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say you have a mission there are laws
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that need to be followed you should do
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your mission and follow the law last
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Thursday president Trump called his
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deportation plans a military operation
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during a meeting with manufacturing
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CEOs you see what's happening at the
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border all of a sudden for the first
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time we're getting gang members out
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we're getting drug lords out we're
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getting really bad dudes out of this
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country and at a rate that nobody's ever
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seen before and they're the bad ones and
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it's a military operation because what
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has been allowed to come into our
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country when you see gang violence that
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you've read about like never before and
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all of the things much of that is people
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that are here
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illegally and they're rough and they're
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tough but they're not tough like our
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people so we're getting them out well
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this is not the first time people of
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Mexican descent have been demonized
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accused of stealing jobs and forced to
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leave the country during the Great
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Depression of the 1930s more than a
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million people residing in the United
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States were deported to Mexico some
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estimated as much as 60% of them were US
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citizens of Mexican descent in 2003 then
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California state Senator Joe Dunn held
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hearings in Sacramento where survivors
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gave testimony about what happened to
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them during the forced expulsions which
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the government called
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repatriations This is Senator dun
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stressing the importance of the
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hearing the idea from which this nation
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was born was the promise to all of
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Liberty and
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Justice today we examine a tragic part
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of American History where we betrayed
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the Justice
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part of that
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promise and a betrayal that affected a
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staggering
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number of
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individuals by some estimates almost 2
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million
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individuals were deported from the
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United States in the
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1930s some estimate that almost 60% of
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those that were deported were United
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States
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citizens and they were deported for but
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one reason they just happened to be of
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Mexican descent the state of California
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went on to issue a formal apology for
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its role in the expulsions and built a
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memorial in downtown Los Angeles to
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commemorate the victims but many fear
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that history is now on the verge or
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repeating itself already for more we're
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going to Los Angeles California where
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we're joined by the preeminent scholar
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on this often overlooked chapter of
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American History Francisco balderama
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professor of American history and Cho
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studies at California State University
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Los Angeles he's the co-author of the
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book decade of betrayal Mexican
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repatriation in the 1930s Professor
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balderama thank you so much for joining
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us um I think for many especially young
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people but I'm sure many more um do not
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know this chapter of American History
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can you lay it out for us what actually
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happened uh you're right that it's
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largely um not known and that's uh in
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the larger American society uh the
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Mexican Nation as well as in the Mexican
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Community itself uh that this occurred
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during the Great Depression a period a
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vast unemployment and
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underemployment that uh at least over a
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million uh Joe dun uh thinks in terms of
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maybe almost 2 million individuals
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Mexican Nationals and American citizens
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of Mexican descent were swept up and
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expelled out of this country and it
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covered the entire United States from
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Alabama and and Mississippi to Alaska
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from Los Angeles to to New York uh this
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Mass expulsion
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occurred um and of a population that uh
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included Mexican Nationals many of them
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that had lived in this country uh 20 30
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years uh but increasingly important is
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the 60% or more of American citizens of
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Mexican descent in other words what
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occurred here was
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unconstitutional deportation
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well Professor balama I'm wondering if
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you could talk also about the role of
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the press at that time in stirring up uh
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anti-immigrant feror because this began
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during the Hoover administration and
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then moved on into the roselt
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administration what was the role of the
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press as well well the the role of the
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press is significant but it also uh
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reflecting the larger American Society
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at this time as well the key notion that
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the Press puts forward is that a Mexican
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is a Mexican there is no distinction in
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terms of residents in this country as I
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mentioned earlier many of them had lived
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in this country 20 25 years most of them
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were documented most of them had papers
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and that their children that were born
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in this country were US citizens no
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distinctions made and that is accepted
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in this society and serves as a way of
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looking at the population that even
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though they had contributed during
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better times to the economic prosperity
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of the United States that uh uh now
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that's not recognized they are the other
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so to speak I want to turn to ignasio
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paa who lived in rural Idaho when
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Sheriff's came to his house and took
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everybody in custody in the summer of
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1931 his parents had lived in the United
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States for some 25 years years he was
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about to enter first grade we're taking
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this from a film called a forgotten
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Injustice a now elderly P describes what
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happened that
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day my mother was cooking and hand
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making flower tortillas I remember we
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were eating them with melted
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butter then all of a sudden they arrived
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they pointed their guns at us one
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officer was standing outside the other
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one was inside and they said come on
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let's go come on and my mother would ask
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where no questions come on
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out no question come on
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out they took us to the fields where my
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father was
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working they grabbed him too and then
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they filled up the other car with
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Mexicans that were working there as
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well po Idaho in Pocatello Idaho they
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put us in jail we were in jail for 6 or
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seven days
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I was 6 years old and as a kid I could
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not understand why we were in jail if we
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were not
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criminals my father was in one cell and
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my mother was in another one with me my
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three sisters and my two
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brothers but I could not understand
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why even when we were in the Train on
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our way to El Paso Texas I wondered
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where is this train going what's going
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to happen with us there were about five
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cars with lots of Mexicans lots of
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families we were so young but I remember
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looking around at the people they looked
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so
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sad because many were suffering the same
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things we were facing they were kicked
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out
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too they did it so we couldn't come back
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even the ones that were born here like
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us they didn't let us take anything with
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us not even our birth certificates not
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even our birth certificates that was
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ignasio paa um Professor balderama you
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knew ignasio paa can you tell us more
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about this story and how typical it
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was well Mr P called me after we had the
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hearings in Sacramento we conducted
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extensive
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interviews and um getting to meet his
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family his uh son shared with me um that
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he no longer has the
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nightmares uh that this man was
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experiencing well into his 80s because
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he was able to share his story with us
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uh Mr paa uh who was recently deceased
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became an activist in regards of the
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apology Act and the erection of the
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memorial here in Los Angeles and I think
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it shows that an individual that
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suffered with this uh throughout his
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life that even had nightmares as a
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senior citizens about that became an
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activist and shared that story uh
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multiple times uh to the Press uh uh to
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the television on and on with the
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conviction that as many of the other
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survivors that this not happened to
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anybody else uh when he said that and
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the other survivors not to happen to
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anybody else he just doesn't mean people
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of Mexican descent or Latino descent
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rather what he's saying is anybody else
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and especially those that are American
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citizens it shouldn't happen we should
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not have
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unconstitutional
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deportation and Professor balderama
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you've specialized in the uh in the mass
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deportations of the 1930s but that was
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not the last of these deportations right
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in the
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1950s uh there was Operation
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under the Eisenhower Administration and
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of course during the B Bush years uh and
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into the Obama years there were the mass
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deportations that occurred it seems
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every time there is an economic crisis
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in the United States the first reflex is
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to start mass deportations of the the
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other uh as the society begins to uh uh
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to uh declare them exactly one uh you're
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right on target with that that we do
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have these Cycles um What U behooves
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American society uh to understand
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is that this early period that I have
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studied the early 20th century and the
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Great Depression which is the most
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severe economic crisis of the 20th and
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the 21st century is the fact that uh at
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that time develops this ideology this
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set of beliefs this way of thinking of
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the Mexican Latino population that
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somehow they're not part of our society
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uh that they are
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uh um many of them are criminals uh many
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of them are here to be on welfare that
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somehow some way they cannot become part
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of our society and I think what is
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especially important to keep in mind for
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your listeners is that as we experience
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the nightmare of today the crisis of
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today which is different that same
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ideology that same way of thinking is
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still in action today I wanted to go
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Professor balderama to your late
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co-author Raymond Rodriguez this is
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Rodriguez speaking at the 2003 select
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committee on citizen participation at
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the California state
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senate my dad left in
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1936 when I was
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10 I never saw about dad
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[Music]
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again how is
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anybody going to compensate me for that
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loss that was Raymond Rodriguez your
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co-author can you tell us about him and
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his family's um experience and also why
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just Mexicans was it only
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Mexicans
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well was my not only my colleague
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Raymond Rodriguez was uh a very very
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dear friend we spoke with one voice when
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we wrote decade of betrayal and in
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countless ven we spoke with one voice in
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terms of this particular issue I had
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known Rey for some 20 years at the time
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that we completed the first edition of
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decade of betrayal and at that moment I
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learned that his father had been a
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repatriate at that moment when the when
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the book was finished and we were
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submitting it to the publisher I knew
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they had grown up with a single parent
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with a mother only but I didn't know
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what had happened to his father so in a
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lot of ways my
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co-author my treasured
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friend uh his work together his
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scholarship as well as his activism was
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trying to incover that history his own
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family history and we see that thread
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among others as well uh many other
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individuals who
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in understanding this issue from Reading
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decade of betrayal from hearing your
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radio program from looking at this and
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understanding this have developed a
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larger understanding what we have seen
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happened is that this private history
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has now become a public history and many
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people as they deal with this trying to
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become a public history that even though
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Ry in the excerpt that you just played
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was the very first time that publicly he
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announced that his father had been a
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repatriate that what had happened had
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divided his family his mother and his
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siblings stayed here in the United
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States and his father returned to Mexico
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and he never saw his father again and
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Professor Bama this whole issue of
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repatriation the United States
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government labeled it repatriation
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because it claimed that the PE that the
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uh the people were voluntarily agreeing
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to go back to their home country but as
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you know as you've reported and as
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happens right here in the United States
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now people are picked up locked up and
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then told if you don't want to stay
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locked up uh uh then you agree to be uh
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to self-deport to in essence leave the
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country and go back to your home country
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so it's really a choice of staying in
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jail uh or having a chance possibly to
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come back legally at some other time U
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Juan you're you're right about that but
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uh looking at it in the context of the
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1930s is that
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repatriation was a coverup
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word because at that time which marks
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the 30s different than today is that the
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big source of this expulsion is on the
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local level it's in the cities and
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counties uh that took upon themselves to
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uh say to their communities there's
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enough jobs for Real Americans if we can
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get rid of these other people
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so LA county and other counties
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throughout the nation then uh pressured
00:16:05
Mexican families to leave even though
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Mexicans uh for my research never were a
00:16:13
large percentage of those that were on
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welfare but it played to the notion or
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the idea that Mexicans were on welfare
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here in LA county they uh uh began to
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call their actions
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deportation and the legal council says
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no you can't do that only the federal
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government can do that and that's where
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the word repatriation is born so to
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speak to be used in that context to
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cover it up to make it look uh clean
00:16:48
make it look like it's voluntary but at
00:16:51
the same time you have public raids at
00:16:54
the same time you have the Press uh
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talking about unwanted Mexican Americans
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all of these actions are very coercive
00:17:04
finally professor balderama your
00:17:05
response to what's happening today and
00:17:07
the parallels that you see and the ways
00:17:09
you can uh
00:17:12
see avoiding history repeating
00:17:15
itself well obviously uh this is a
00:17:18
nightmare obviously the legacy of this
00:17:21
is in the Mexican Community even before
00:17:24
this happened I know many senior
00:17:26
citizens uh who would carry their papers
00:17:30
their documentation whatever they had in
00:17:32
fear that they might get caught up in a
00:17:35
sweep now obviously those same feelings
00:17:38
are being reported daily in the Press
00:17:41
about people staying home people even
00:17:43
fearful to go out and buy groceries so
00:17:46
that has returned but what I think marks
00:17:50
the difference between the past and
00:17:53
today is the simple fact is that we have
00:17:58
um in the Mexican Community uh different
00:18:01
groups uh the Mexican-American legal
00:18:03
defense fund and education fund malf
00:18:07
other groups and more importantly the
00:18:11
different uh cross ethnic Progressive uh
00:18:15
groups together uh whether they be
00:18:18
Japanese American whether they be Jewish
00:18:21
American uh the various other groups who
00:18:24
have come together and are very
00:18:27
conscious of what is happening and is
00:18:29
dedicated to those actions of
00:18:32
activism and to stop this what's
00:18:37
occurring Francisco balderama we want to
00:18:39
thank you so much for being with us
00:18:40
professor of American history and Cho
00:18:42
studies at California State University
00:18:44
Los Angeles co-author of decade of
00:18:47
betrayal Mexican repatriation in the
00:18:49
1930s we link to that book as well as
00:18:51
yours Juan um Harvest of Empire uh the
00:18:56
whole story that in which you include
00:18:58
this as well this is democracy now when
