The Preamble The Long History of Demonizing Immigrants: From the Great Depression to Today
Mar 2, 2026
Ana Raquel Minian, historian of U.S. immigration and author of In the Shadow of Liberty, joins to map a long history of exclusion and detention. She traces 19th-century exclusion laws, Ellis Island as a detention site, 20th-century repatriations and Operation Wetback, and how policy shifted toward mass detention. The conversation highlights recurring tactics and rhetoric that shape today's immigration landscape.
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Bracero Program Promises Versus Reality
- The Bracero Program recruited Mexican labor during WWII as temporary guest workers with promises of equal pay, housing, and healthcare.
- In practice employers ignored promises, maintained segregation, and preferred undocumented labor to avoid regulations.
What Price Wetbacks Pamphlet Stoked Resentment
- Texas pamphlets like What Price Wetbacks framed Mexican workers as disease-ridden, criminal peasants willing to endure starvation wages.
- The pamphlet language fueled public resentment and framed immigrants as disposable laborers.
Operation Wetback's Brutal Mass Deportations
- Operation Wetback in 1954 used mass arrests, train stops, and roadblocks to deport large numbers of people, often without hearings or regard for citizenship.
- Deportees were herded onto ships and dumped in remote Mexican deserts; one ship incident caused at least 88 deaths from sunstroke.
