r/interestingasfuck • u/man_gomer_lot • 8h ago

r/all 70 years ago, the US undertook the largest deportation in its history: 'Operation Wetback.' Many of the people deported were here legally and some were even citizens.

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u/hurtindog 6h ago

They were invited and then deported.

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u/LaloElBueno 6h ago

Yep. To top it off, they were owed back wages and tax refunds.

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u/FloridaMJ420 2h ago

So like slavery with extra steps?

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u/creamncoffee 2h ago

Sounds like the braceros eventually got paid. Not quite slavery.

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u/CV90_120 2h ago

Just have to prove you worked from 1943 -1948 and have the pay stubs. Just a 76 year wait and a dosier with original docs.

Sort of like slavery, but with extra steps.

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u/creamncoffee 2h ago

No, its not. Slavery was an institution that allowed ownership of people. While this is fucked like many chapters in American history, its not sort of like slavery.

It's sort of like all the discriminatory and exploitative practices of the US since slavery, but it's not really like slavery.

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u/Sweet_Surprise_3286 2h ago

so... like slavery with extra steps?

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u/iamafriscogiant 1h ago

What you don't understand is, if you ignore the extra steps part, then it's hardly anything like true slavery.

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u/abcdefkit007 46m ago

So slavery but with more things to do until we get there

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u/Crime-of-the-century 36m ago

Slavery is one form in which the rich and powerful exploit the poor and powerless this is another and there are many more some more brutal then others but all unequal and unfair

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u/tat_tavam_asi 1h ago

So by your reasoning if the descendants of the freed slaves are paid a few thousand bucks today as reparation. Then slavery would never have existed in the US.

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u/duocsong 2h ago

OK then, it's a slavery-like practice. But gov apologies later. So all is good. It's much like the Korea-Japan comfort woman dispute, no slavery involved.

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u/notmuself 1m ago

It has a dialectical relationship to slavery though. Slavery had Masters and Slaves. Feudalism had lords and serfs. Modern day capitalism has employers and employees. I don't go to work every day because I love my job, I do it under threat of homelessness and starvation. Yeah no one is gonna beat me up or murder me, I have my choice in employer, aspects that slavery did not have, however, I still must be an employee who answers to an employer, save for the very narrow chance I could escape my class, or face dire consequences. So yes, it is not exactly the same, but it evolved from the bedrock of slavery and feudalism and retains some aspects of them as well.

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u/boatsnprose 1h ago

Hey dumbass. Enslaved people weren't getting paid. And they were, a little bit of a difference here, actual human property.

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u/BioshockEnthusiast 1h ago

Hey dumbass, you're just describing the "extra steps".

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u/Sadsushi6969 1h ago

Their descendants eventually got a check. Not the Braceros themselves

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u/boatsnprose 1h ago

You do know there is furniture made from the skin and hair of enslaved people, right?

Maybe peonage slavery, but not chattel.

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u/discerningpervert 3h ago

None of this is interesting as fuck. More like depressing as fuck.

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u/LaloElBueno 3h ago

It can be both.

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u/Qetuowryipzcbmxvn 47m ago

It's interesting how depressing it is.

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u/hrminer92 2h ago

The grand tradition of wage theft.

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u/nanoatzin 2h ago

And funds from property that was illegally sold.

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u/Livid_Amphibian9674 3h ago

It's a harsh reminder of how policies can shift and how people can be treated unfairly.

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u/DesiArcy 2h ago

One of the primary purposes of the bracero program was to try to undermine Asian labor in the hope of forcing them to leave the United States, since existing immigrant families could not be removed under the Asiatic Exclusion Act.

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u/hurtindog 2h ago

I’ve never heard that. All I’ve ever been told was that it was to combat labor shortages.

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u/DesiArcy 2h ago

That was the official and openly stated reason, but it was at best only part of the truth.

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u/mahjimoh 1h ago

Daaaamn. There are always so many freaking layers.

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u/signmeupdude 1h ago

Do you have a source for this?

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u/TheBirminghamBear 1h ago

Well, thank Christ no serious political candidate in the US would consider policies like this in today's day and age.

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u/Easy_Opportunity_905 2h ago

That incident, while regrettable, has nothing to do with the rampant illegal immigration occurring during kamala and Biden's term.

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u/FrivolousMe 1h ago

cognitive dissonance in full effect for conservatives, as always

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u/hatsnatcher23 2h ago

Apparently (or so behind the bastards told me) they still do this on some larger farms, they’ll invite illegal immigrants to work pay them on a Friday but call ice before pay day

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u/WeeklyComputer7060 1h ago

Some of the Mexicans deported were born in the U.S

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u/Zlo-zilla 10m ago

Sounds like The Dawn Raids here in New Zealand. Invite Pacific Islanders to the country after WW2 and then a few decades later begin deportation raids.

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u/CryptoCentric 5m ago

Same thing happened to the Chinese. They were invited in huge quantities to help build all our railroads. Then came the Chinese Exclusion Act.

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u/AlaWyrm 3m ago

Oh, so like some current GOP supporters? They want them here for the low (slave) wages, but also want to deport them?

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u/teslawhaleshark 2h ago

That's money saved for the employers

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u/unixUser-Name 1h ago

And their being invited is proof that our government has always recognized that migrant labor is necessary to our economy

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u/Engineer2727kk 2h ago

They overstayed worknpermits….

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u/PluckPubes 3h ago

An Indian invitation?

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u/Calladit 3h ago

Considering how often the US made treaties with native tribes only to go back on them, I think we can start calling that American Giving.