Operation Wetback

Operation Wetback referred to one in the years 1954 and 1955 carried out by the U.S. mass deportation of illegal Mexican immigrants. According to official sources here over a million people were deported to Mexico. The word wetback ( ger wet back) is a slang often pejoratively used to refer to (illegal ) Mexican immigrants and refers to the fact that many of them had the border river Rio Grande to cross to reach the USA.