By: josé ángel gutiérrez  (Page 5/11)

During the early 1950s, Dwight D. Eisenhower became president and appointed Joseph Swing to head the Immigration Naturalization Service (INS). The INS included oversight of both the naturalization process and border security by the Border Patrol known by Mexicans and other immigrants as la migra . Swing, as a young lieutenant, had served under General Jack Pershing. Francisco “Pancho” Villa invaded the U.S. at Columbus, New Mexico during the Mexican Revolution and Pershing and Swing unsuccessfully pursued Villa’s army until the outbreak of World War I. As INS Commissioner, Swing had his opportunity to hunt and catch Mexicans with his program, “Operation Wetback,” which the U.S. government initiated in 1954. This military operation deported millions of Mexicans, including many who were U.S. citizens by birth and naturalization. Juan Ramon Garcia, Operation Wetback: The Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1954, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980. Immigration was seen as a military and police matter by U.S. officials and not a social, political, or economic issue. The U.S. viewed immigration policy first militarily, then as a security issue for the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Thomas J. Dunn, The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home, Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies, 1996. It equates the search for a livelihood with terrorism.

In 1960, John Kennedy sought the presidency and Mexican-Americans rallied to his campaign by organizing Viva Kennedy Clubs across the Southwest and Midwest. Ignacio M. Garcia, Viva Kennedy: Mexican Americans in Search of Camelot, College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000. The Viva Kennedy Clubs helped elect him president. The Clubs disbanded but re-organized into the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA in California) and the Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations (PASO in Texas). These political organizations were responsible for several major transformations of Mexican-American politics. First, they engaged in grassroots organizing among Mexican-Americans in the Southwest and Midwest for electoral purposes. My hometown of Crystal City was among the first communities to elect an all-Chicano city council in 1963. From the Anglo politicians that PASO and MAPA supported with their work and votes, they obtained concessions, usually of appointments to high public office. For a biography of the first Mexican American federal judge appointed by President John F. Kennedy see Louise Ann Pisch, All Rise: Reynaldo G. Garza, the First Mexican American Federal Judge, College Station, Texas A&M University Press, 1989. The Poll Tax was eliminated in 1966. Second, these organizations encouraged local Mexican- Americans to seek public office. An example of a local effort by PASO in my hometown see John Staples Shockley, Chicano Revolt in a Texas Town, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1974. For a number of decades the total figures for Mexican- American elected officials has grown and expanded from the borderlands into major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Lansing, Michigan, for example. Recent mayoral elections in Los Angeles (Antonio Villaraigosa) and San Antonio (Julian Castro) are cases in point. According to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), these numbers near 6,000, and include an unprecedented two U.S. Senators. The last time an Hispanic was elected U.S. Senator was 1970-1976 which was Joseph Montoya, Democrat from the state of New Mexico. Third, coalitions and alliances with organized labor, Anglo liberals, and African-Americans made for successful strategies on issues and candidacies. Over time, the various coalitions and alliances have ended but the electoral power of the combined Chicano and Latino communities continues to grow. Some critical work is emerging challenging the notion that Latinos and Blacks have similar interests. See Nicolas Vaca, The Presumed Alliance: Black and Brown Relations, New York: Rayo HarperCollins, 2004.