Protesters clash with police during a “national strike” protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles on January 30, 2026. A Fresno politician recounts being deported during Operation Wetback and warns how ICE policies continue to harm families, urging humane immigration reform.
PATRICK T. FALLON
AFP via Getty Images
More than 70 years ago, my family and I were deported from the United States during the so-called “Operation Wetback,” a 1954 mass deportation effort carried about by the U.S. federal government that saw 1.1 million people “apprehended” by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the forerunner of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ordered by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower and given a vulgar name because it targeted Mexican immigrants, “Operation Wetback” is remembered as “the biggest mass deportation of undocumented workers in United States history.” Some American citizens and legal Mexican immigrants were swept up in the operation.
My siblings lost years of schooling and I nearly died from lack of medical treatment.
I know from firsthand experience that ICE agents deporting people today are causing great harm to our families and communities.
I believe that every person — no matter where they come from — deserves to be treated with compassion, respect and dignity. Yet I see the anger and hatred directed toward immigrants who are just doing their best to try and escape poverty and violence.
My parents came from a small village in Mexico. They taught me the importance of compassion because we are all human beings.
As we know, however, in today’s hyper-political environment, it does not pay to be soft on immigrants. ICE supporters say immigrants are rapists and murderers who only came to the U.S. to commit crimes and smuggle drugs. It is easy for some elected officials to attack immigrants and overlook their humanity. This fearmongering has re-emerged even though we are a strong and prosperous nation because of immigrants — not despite them.
The fear that is overtaking our communities cannot be ignored: the fear of being stopped while driving children to or from school, and the fear of being rounded up like animals, beaten, incarcerated and deported. Families are being separated and broken apart.
In my lifetime I have seen immigrants come with little more than traditional Mexican sandals, or “huaraches,” and broken English. These immigrants create generations of children and grandchildren who help grow our economy, care for our sick, educate our children and build our homes. The immigrants I know have a determination and willingness to work hard, and all they want is a better future for their children.
I ask those who support current efforts: Why not work toward practical solutions like comprehensive immigration reform? When President Donald Trump pardons convicted drug dealers, felons and those with life sentences, why not pardon people whose only crime was coming to this country without the right documents? Why not look for solutions that benefit everyone instead of demonizing those least able to respond?
I believe that nations have an obligation to protect their borders for their well-being, but I do not support the callousness and inhumanity with which we are treating our most recent newcomers. Regulating borders and controlling immigration is not a license for ICE’s cruelty, indifference and dehumanization, which have tragically contributed to the injuries and deaths of migrants and citizens alike.
Despite the desperation and pessimism many feel, there is hope that in the long run we can recover the ideals and humanitarian instincts this country was founded upon. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict when people of good will work together instead of pointing fingers.
Juan Arambula is a former Fresno Unified board member and California assemblyman.
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