• mhague@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Operation Wetback was more recent. It’s called wetback because our government had a sweepstakes to name it, we even had events like fairs to celebrate. People could come get some cotton candy, ride the rides, and see Mexicans in cages. Then they’d be loaded up by truck or even helicopter and deposited somewhere deep into Mexico.

      And of course it wasn’t just “illegal aliens.” In operation Wetback, they all can go.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Could I get a link to the fairs? It doesn’t make the core of it any less terrible but I’d like to see more information about it before sticking that in my brain, ya know?

        • mhague@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          I’ve been looking but search engines are so bad now. I know it’s from an article / essay and might even know the name (David Gutierrez? Kelly Lytle Hernandez?) of the author.

          Years ago I found more useful sources. Academics, old news with their own info to offer. Now it’s just the same things over and over.

          Did you know Trump mentioned this during his campaign? I didn’t. But it’s all I can find on Google and DDG. Trump promising to bring it back. The same info rehashed over and over. It’s frustrating knowing exactly what I’m looking for and getting nowhere.

          Can’t even find anything about the INS holding a contest for the name.