Prometheus 6

via LatinoPundit (who is right when he says this needs more coverage):

Raids erode our nation's civil liberties
By Gilda L. Ochoa and Enrique C. Ocho

Yet again Latino immigrants are being scapegoated.

This time the attacks are taking the form of immigrant raids in greater Los Angeles. The detaining of hundreds of people this month in an apparent shift in Border Patrol policy to arrest undocumented workers in regions far from the border does nothing to address the U.S. policies that lead to immigration. Instead, it criminalizes and terrorizes members of our communities.

These raids are part of a historical pattern where the U.S. government and corporations have alternately recruited and deported Mexican immigrants depending on the economy. During times of prosperity and when labor has been needed, the U.S has turned to Mexican workers. However, during economic downturns, it has been Mexican immigrants who have been scapegoated.

This pattern began in the late 19th and early 20th century, when Mexicans were urged to come north to help build the U.S. West, working in mines, on railroads, in the fields and in factories, only to be victims of massive deportations during the Great Depression.

This pattern continued with the Bracero Program between 1942 and 1964 as 5 million Mexicans were recruited and provided with temporary labor contracts. However, during this same period, anti-communist sentiment and the post-Korean War recession resulted in a wave of mass deportations by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. During this so-called Operation Wetback, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans were deported between 1953 and 1955.

Such policies and practices toward Mexican immigration reinforce unequal power and economic relations between the United States and Mexico and influence the experiences of Mexicans in the U.S.

These are the same practices Black folks endured, and still do to some degree. The US economy has always had its favorites and there's always a people to serve as an economic buffer. The economy would not work without that shock-absorbing capacity.

Which would force us to find another way to describe our activity.