Written by Delgado Staff Tuesday, 25 August 2009 13:13
Under President Herbert Hoover, the U.S. government began deporting Mexicans and Mexican-Americans from the United States to Mexico as unemployment rates began to rise. Because of the proximity to Mexico, the Mexican-American population became a target. After President Roosevelt took office, the federal government quit funding the program, but some state and local governments continued at the local level. Scholars and others have noted that the incident is often omitted from textbooks. Many who were not forcibly deported opted to leave of their own volition in light of the anti-Mexican climate. Still others were coerced by social workers who exaggerated the economic opportunities in Mexico while accumulating in border towns such as Ciudad Juárez, deportees and those who had voluntarily repatriated found few resources. The State of California passed the Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program in 2005, officially recognizing the "unconstitutional removal and coerced immigration of United States citizens and legal residents of Mexican descent" and apologize to residents of California "for the fundamental violations of their basic civil liberties and constitutional rights committed during the period of illegal deportation and coerced emigration." "More than 5 years ago, I started working on a project that I thought was going to be a book. I wanted to tell the story of my Grandmother who was born in Los Angeles, California and ended up living "illegally" in Mexico for more than 70 years," said Vicente Serrano, Director of the independent documentary A Forgotten Injustice. "I wanted to call the book "La Gringa" and I wanted it to be a non fiction book. When I started the research for the book I realized that this was not an exclusive story of my Grandma, as I originally thought, but rather the buried story of more than a million men, women and children who suffer like her "A Forgotten Injustice"." Vicente Serrano stated, "I am pleased to see that the film has motivated Senator Delgado to "do the right thing" and try to uncover this forgotten chapter in American history. Now that we are suffering the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and everyone has an opinion about how to fix our immigration system, we have to learn from the past and make sure that we don't let history repeat it." "This legislation gives us the chance to restore ourselves. We owe it to our elders to tell the truth about what happened to them. If we don't explain it to our community, then we would not understand why we don't vote, why we don't answer the census, why we don't participate in public life and why our community is not as advanced as other groups that arrived around the same time," said Elena Herrada, Daughter of a U.S Citizen deported from Detroit, Michigan and Founder of Centro Obrero. Herrada states that, "It's very important especially for those whose families returned to the Midwest area, far away from the border and Latino areas. Many of us don't know why our elders did not want us to speak Spanish, live around Mexicans or be seen as Mexicans. The impact of what happened to Mexicans and U.S citizens of Mexican descent during the Great Depression is very profound. I think that is why the legislation here in Illinois is key to uncovering the truth." "I am honored that Senator William Delgado is following the example set in the California Legislature. I will be pleased when the Illinois Legislature does the right thing and passes a law that brings justice to the thousands of U.S citizens and legal residents of Mexican descents that were unconstitutionally deported from the United States to Mexico in the 1930s. We owe it to them. In this particular time in history, it is necessary to show our commitment to the basic principles of our nation: Liberty and justice for all. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of the tragic situation of the 30s and I hope you feel the same responsibility, as I did when I was State Senator in California, to help our society uncover the truth. I applaud Senator Delgado's initiative to take this history lesson back to the classrooms, it would be the only way for us to learn from the past and avoid committing the same mistakes in the future," said Former California State Senator Joe Dunn. "This law will ensure that this event is not kept out of our history books," said Delgado. "Senate Bill 1557 will insure that our children will learn about Mexican-American history in their schools."
SPRINGFIELD, IL— An initiative sponsored by Illinois State Senator William Delgado (D-Chicago) will requiring U.S. History courses to include information about the "Mexican Repatriation" has been signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn.
"During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the U.S. government looked for ways to ease the country's financial hardship. In order to make more jobs available, the government deported nearly two million Mexican-Americans in what was called "Mexican Repatriation." However, many of those deported to Mexico were American citizens born in the U.S. These people have never received an apology or public acknowledgement of their suffering," said Delgado.This law will require all U.S. History classes to include the events surrounding the forceful removal and illegal deportation of Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression, beginning in 1929 and ending in the mid-1940s.
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Senator Delgado Menu
2nd District
Years served: 1999 - 2006 (House); 2006 - Present (Senate)
Committee assignments: Human Services; Appropriations I; Public Health (Chairperson); Consumer Protection (Vice-Chairperson); Executive Appointments; Committee of the Whole; Joint Comm. on Government Reform; Subcommittee on Amendments.
Biography: Full-time state legislator; born in Newark, NJ.; B.A. in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University; Leadership Chairman of the 2nd Legislative District's Volunteer Political Organization; married (wife, Iris), has two children.
