Operation Wetback, the mass deportation program with which President Eisenhower ended the last illegal immigration crisis, is rarely mentioned by anyone outside of VDARE.COM. But an article by John Dillin published yesterday in the Christian Science Monitor outlines the historic crackdown. (How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico, July 6 2006).

With one-tenth the Border Patrol agents now working, Eisenhower got nearly 2,000,000 illegals out of the country. Significantly, only a fraction were actually deported - most (488,000 in California and Arizona, and 500,000-700,000 in Texas) left voluntarily, alarmed by the threat of arrest.

So much for George Will and his caravan of buses.

Also notable, is a quote from the New York Times that Eisenhower used in a letter to Senator William Fulbright in 1954. With regard to corrupt politicians pandering to cheap labor the NYT had this to say:

The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican 'wetbacks' to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government.

Seems they've changed their tune.