The Repatriation of Mexican Immigrants

The U.S. expelled nearly one million people of Mexican descent. At least 60 percent were U.S. citizens. These removals, labeled “voluntary repatriation,” were in fact state-sanctioned banishments that targeted families, especially women and children, without due process. The statement didn’t come from last week’s news. It describes events that occurred in the US between the 1920s and 1940s. What was the outcome then and what does it tell us about how we arrived at the current deportations?