Driver's Licenses for Immigrants? Lessons From Eisenhower's 'Operation Wetback'

By Tracy Dove, Ph.D
Editor, The Russia News Service

November 14, 2007

While politicians mumble into their napkins, trying to say anything that is uncertain about their stand on immigration, General Joseph Swing is turning in his well-marked grave in Arlington Cemetery. The mincing of words on this issue is producing some serious frustration everywhere in America. The governor of New York had a hard time saying it, but once the crow he had been forced to eat came back up he felt much better: driver's licenses would not be issued to illegal immigrants after all. The result of Governor Spitzer's Announcement? Jubilation- and that from at least 70% of those recently-polled New Yorkers who are pissed-off about immigration, which the Governor poignantly called "explosive". Back in the 1950's, Americans were made of tougher stuff- they dug their own bomb shelters and deported aliens who were illegally working in the United States. To remind ourselves of how wobbly we stand on the immigration issue today, we need to take a look at "Operation Wetback" in 1954 and see why it succeeded in winning the battle but losing the war.

Firstly it must be said that retiring World War II generals didn't fade away at all- they went into politics. Since 1953, Eisenhower and his army buddies were firmly in control of American values and were determined to keep them tidy and safe from Communists. It was early on in his administration that the President learned about the real situation on the US-Mexican border. It seemed that cheap Mexican labor was tempting American border officials and ranchers to become unethical, and this was something that Eisenhower couldn't tolerate. In order to protect American jobs and keep the frontier clean of corruption, the President called on retired General Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing and appointed him head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with the explicit order to shake things up a bit along the US-Mexican border.

The job was no easy one, but no more difficult than the one we have today: America, then and now, has grown cherub-fat and ruddy on a diet of cheap and uncomplicated labor that originates anywhere south of the border. Back in the 50's jobs were numerous, and so were the Mexicans: they had no visas, no rights to claim for themselves in Washington, and no objection to working for half of the going rate and for long hours, too. American industry was growing fast and both European and American cities needed to be fed, and Mexicans were pouring across the border at the rate of over 1 million a year by the time Ike was in the driver's seat and pulled the emergency brake.

The INS wasn't entirely to blame for the state of affairs at the border. General Swing was determined to make the agency do what it as supposed to do, and he began by transferred the service's border guards around to different states in order to shake up the reigning apathy that reigned in the INS. It seemed that political pressure was being exercised by well-placed friends of the ranching and agriculture industry in government and agents were forced to turn a blind eye to the northward sucking sound. Next the General mapped out a sting operation of hundreds of agents that would head north through agricultural areas and nab any Mexican without a working visa. Removing the politically sensitive states of California and Arizona from his battle plans, the General launched Operation "Wetback" on June 17, 1954 along the Texas border where Mexicans were apparently free styling across the Rio Grande to America and headed north- hence the name, "wetbacks".

From an operational perspective, the plan was a success. Over 750 agents were able to catch up to 1,000 violators per day, and by the end of September over 80,000 had been detained with an estimated 500,000- 800,000 frightened workers pouring back over the border to Mexico. And regarding deportation, the General was no fool; instead of opening the gates and nudging the Mexicans back across the border as they do today, Swing had them either trucked into the interior- sometimes hundreds of miles deep into Mexico- or had them shipped to Vera Cruz aboard the absurdly-named SS Emancipation from which a return would be prohibitively expensive. For the next 10 years, memories of Operation Wetback remained fresh along that border, and Mexicans competed for the legal work exchange programs that existed at the time, vastly curtailing illegal immigration to America.

But there was additional fallout from the operation. Civil rights groups were abhorred with the oppressive measures and blind loyalty to directives that did lasting harm to the Mexican families affected by the INS. One of the interesting- if not antiquated- features of American citizenship laws is that any child born in the US is automatically an American citizen. This means that tiny Americans were being deported with their illegal parents, setting potentially devastating legal questions before the government. There were also accusations of heavy-handedness and abuse of human rights, and for these and other reasons Operation Wetback- once it was completed- was never repeated.

The immigration problem in America is the result of ambiguity in the enforcement of the laws that are currently on the books. New York Governor Spitzer wasn't exaggerating when he said that the issue was "divisive." Without proper enforcement of the law, temptation to break it inevitably tempts people on both sides of the fence to cheat. Either deport the illegals and address the human rights issues as they arise, or change the laws.

Tracy Dove, editor of The Russia News Service, is a Professor of History and Dean of Summer Programs for the Lessing Institute. He also teaches history at the Anglo-American College in Prague.

See all previous articles by Tracy Dove here.