How a real president did it

(A commenter asks below, what kind of man did this?)

Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, not exactly known as a sensible venue on social and national issues, John Dillin tells the story of President Eisenhower’s swift and effective campaign in 1954 to remove Mexican illegal aliens from thie country, at a period when the Border Patrol had only a fraction of the number of agents it has today. Here’s the heart of Dillin’s account:

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, [INS Commissioner and retired Army general Joseph “Jumpin’ Joe” 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.

I will add just this one comment: Every person who says we “can’t round up and deport illegals” is either a defeatist or an enemy of this country.

* * *

Stephen T. writes:

Is it possible that a man who climbed from a modest, Midwestern background through West Point to become the Supreme Allied Commander was somehow not overly intimidated by the ancient Mestizo tradition of menacing “mad dog” glares, coming from illiterate peasants being rounded up for deportation after violating our laws? Amazing!

Are we to assume that the architect of the D-Day invasion might also be unfazed by the macho braggadocio of that failed culture, with its tradition of gang violence and a 65 percent school dropout rate, and its squatter armies waving Mexican flags and misspelled signs boasting that they are now the conquerors of sovereign U. S. territory?

What kind of man was this?

A strong American of European ancestry, that’s all. And it’s not only the Americans of the era who understood this. I contend it’s what the Mexicans instinctively recognized at some very basic level. A strong American of European ancestry stood up and firmly, unapologetically told these very backwards, primitive people how a civilized nation based on European Anglo culture and laws would deal with them. And they lowered their eyes and were deported.

Dynamite.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 05, 2006 09:44 PM | Send