Jdg
20:23 KJV
(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even,
and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against
the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
The Christian Science Monitor How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings
from Mexico By John Dillin
JULY 6, 2006 http://j.mp/IkeAliens
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush isn't the first
Republican president to face a full-blown immigration crisis on the US-Mexican
border.
Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected
Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was
as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had
walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in
California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond.
President Eisenhower cut off this
illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States
Border Patrol agents – less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is
still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.
Although there is little to no record of this
operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates
how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. William Fulbright (D) of
Arkansas. The senator had just proposed that a special commission be created by
Congress to examine unethical conduct by government officials who accepted
gifts and favors in exchange for special treatment of private individuals.
General Eisenhower, who was gearing up for his
run for the presidency, said "Amen" to Senator Fulbright's proposal.
He then quoted a report in The New York Times, highlighting one paragraph that
said: "The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a
current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a
curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the
farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal
Government."
Years later, the late Herbert Brownell Jr.,
Eisenhower's first attorney general, said in an interview with this writer that
the president had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration when he took
office.
America "was faced with a breakdown in law
enforcement on a very large scale," Mr. Brownell said. "When I say
large scale, I mean hundreds of thousands were coming in from Mexico [every
year] without restraint."
Although an on-and-off guest-worker program for
Mexicans was operating at the time, farmers and ranchers in the Southwest had
become dependent on an additional low-cost, docile, illegal labor force of up
to 3 million, mostly Mexican, laborers.
According to the Handbook of Texas Online,
published by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical
Association, this illegal workforce had a severe impact on the wages of
ordinary working Americans. The Handbook Online reports that a study by the
President's Commission on Migratory Labor in Texas in 1950 found that cotton
growers in the Rio Grande Valley, where most illegal aliens in Texas worked,
paid wages that were "approximately half" the farm wages paid elsewhere
in the state.
Profits from illegal labor led to the kind of
corruption that apparently worried Eisenhower. Joseph White, a retired 21-year
veteran of the Border Patrol, says that in the early 1950s, some senior US
officials overseeing immigration enforcement "had friends among the
ranchers," and agents "did not dare" arrest their illegal
workers.
Walt Edwards, who joined the Border Patrol in
1951, tells a similar story. He says: "When we caught illegal aliens on
farms and ranches, the farmer or rancher would often call and complain [to
officials in El Paso]. And depending on how politically connected they were,
there would be political intervention. That is how we got into this mess we are
in now."
Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33
years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still
fueling the flow of illegals.
During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old
Boy" system changed under Eisenhower – if only for about 10 years.
In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph
"Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the
101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.
Influential politicians, including Sen. Lyndon
B. Johnson (D) of Texas and Sen. Pat McCarran (D) of Nevada, favored open
borders, and were dead set against strong border enforcement, Brownell said.
But General Swing's close connections to the president shielded him – and the
Border Patrol – from meddling by powerful political and corporate interests.
One of Swing's first decisive acts was to
transfer certain entrenched immigration officials out of the border area to
other regions of the country where their political connections with people such
as Senator Johnson would have no effect.
Then on June 17, 1954, what was called
"Operation Wetback" began. Because political resistance was lower in
California and Arizona, the roundup of aliens began there. Some 750 agents
swept northward through agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions a
day. By the end of July, over 50,000 aliens were caught in the two states.
Another 488,000, fearing arrest, had fled the country.
By mid-July, the crackdown extended northward
into Utah, Nevada, and Idaho, and eastward to Texas.
By September, 80,000 had been taken into
custody in Texas, and an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 illegals had left the
Lone Star State voluntarily.
Unlike today, Mexicans caught in the roundup were
not simply released at the border, where they could easily reenter the US. To
discourage their return, Swing arranged for buses and trains to take many
aliens deep within Mexico before being set free.
Tens of thousands more were put aboard two
hired ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried the aliens
from Port Isabel, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles south.
The sea voyage was "a rough trip, and they
did not like it," says Don Coppock, who worked his way up from Border
Patrolman in 1941 to eventually head the Border Patrol from 1960 to 1973.
Mr. Coppock says he "cannot understand why
[President] Bush let [today's] problem get away from him as it has. I guess it
was his compassionate conservatism, and trying to please [Mexican President]
Vincente Fox."
There are now said to be 12 million to 20
million illegal aliens in the US. Of the Mexicans who live here, an estimated
85 percent are here illegally.
Border Patrol vets offer tips on curbing
illegal immigration
One day in 1954, Border Patrol agent Walt
Edwards picked up a newspaper in Big Spring, Texas, and saw some startling
news. The government was launching an all-out drive to oust illegal aliens from
the United States.
The orders came straight from the top, where the
new president, Dwight Eisenhower, had put a former West Point classmate, Gen.
Joseph Swing, in charge of immigration enforcement.
General Swing's fast-moving campaign soon
secured America's borders – an accomplishment no other president has since equaled.
Illegal migration had dropped 95 percent by the late 1950s.
Several retired Border Patrol agents who took
part in the 1950s effort, including Mr. Edwards, say much of what Swing did
could be repeated today.
"Some say we cannot send 12 million
illegals now in the United States back where they came from. Of course we
can!" Edwards says.
Donald Coppock, who headed the Patrol from 1960
to 1973, says that if Swing and Ike were still running immigration enforcement,
"they'd be on top of this in a minute."
William Chambers, another '50s veteran, agrees.
"They could do a pretty good job" sealing the border.
Edwards says: "When we start enforcing the
law, these various businesses are, on their own, going to replace their
[illegal] workforce with a legal workforce."
While Congress debates building a
fence on the border, these veterans say other actions should have higher
priority.
1. End the current practice of
taking captured Mexican aliens to the border and releasing them. Instead,
deport them deep into Mexico, where return to the US would be more costly.
2. Crack down hard on employers
who hire illegals. Without jobs, the aliens won't come.
3. End "catch and
release" for non-Mexican aliens. It is common for illegal migrants not
from Mexico to be set free after their arrest if they promise to appear later
before a judge. Few show up.
The Patrol veterans say
enforcement could also be aided by a legalized guest- worker program that
permits Mexicans to register in their country for temporary jobs in the US.
Eisenhower's team ran such a program. It permitted up to 400,000 Mexicans a
year to enter the US for various agriculture jobs that lasted for 12 to 52
weeks.
• John Dillin is former managing editor of the
Monitor.
Related
Stories
Illegal immigration from C. America on the rise
FOCUS Is US-Mexico border secure enough?
Immigration reform could hinge on answer.
Illegal immigration slows almost to a
standstill
I2C 141118aa Jdg20v23 Ike fixes border | I2C | 141118
1531 | Jdg20v23 Ike fixes border
