"... In the early 1940s, millions of Mexicans came to the U.S. to work on farms and railroads in a government program to fill jobs during World War II. Many of the workers stayed after the war. When American troops returned home, public sentiment turned against the migrants.
In 1951, before the launch of Eisenhower’s deportation operation, the U.S. government issued
a report blaming immigrants in the country illegally for many of the nation’s economic woes.
Citing little evidence, the report accused Mexican laborers of stealing jobs from Americans and bringing death and disease. It described illegal immigration as “an invasion,” a description used in recent years by conservative media outlets and right-leaning politicians.
“The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country,” Trump said during his July speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis.
... Politicians and newspapers during the Eisenhower era warned of communist subversives slipping across the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has alleged without evidence that droves of prisoners, terrorists and mental patients have been crossing the border, claims repeated by right-leaning media outlets.
Today, most Americans view illegal immigration as one of the nation’s biggest problems, polls show.
At the core of Eisenhower’s effort was a public campaign to widely trumpet the government’s plan. The goal, according to historians, was a public-relations blitz to pressure immigrants in the country illegally to flee rather than risk their families being captured in surprise raids. Twice as many immigrants might have voluntarily left the U.S. than were deported, some historians said. ..."
