An examination of American history reveals that Donald Trump’s pledge regarding the mass deportation of undocumented Hispanics is not an unprecedented event.
For instance, during the early 1830s, approximately 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. However, by the end of the decade, very few Indigenous people remained in the southeastern United States. At the behest of whites who wanted to grow cotton on Native American land, the federal government orchestrated the resettlement of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River to a specially designated Indian Territory.
More recently, during World War II, thousands of Japanese Americans were forced to vacate their homes on the West Coast and Hawaii and moved to internment camps in Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota. An economic consequence of this phenomenon was that whites seized the businesses and property of Japanese American entrepreneurs and landowners.
Speaking of economics, many commentators have noted that Trump’s proposed mass deportation of undocumented Hispanics will have a disastrous effect on the American economy. Moreover, if this action does take place, a significant number of people in this country and around the world may never view the United States the same.
