LOS ANGELES, CA - On Monday, January 20th, day one of Trump’s second term, the recently re-elected president has vowed to round up millions of undocumented workers who have the highly unfortunate paperwork problem of being so-called "illegal" individuals living in the United States. That is, they don’t have any government papers to prove they're legally wanted nor needing to be here. Trump's newly designated "border czar", Tom Homan, has repeatedly boasted on Trump's dire pronouncement that "it will be the largest deportation in U.S. history." Given our nation's sordid past, this will need to be seen.

A Quick History of Mass Deportations in the U.S.A.

The deportation of individuals with Mexican ancestry isn't a new occurrance in U.S. history; nor is the xenophibic rhetoric of Trump and his modern assembly of sycophant stooges. As it is, that, the common narrrative of U.S. society is given from a white and black perspective. Many don't readily discuss nor acknowledge the extreme amounts of discrimination that brown people in the U.S. have endured. Below is a history of two prior mass deportations unfamiliar to most Americans.

The Mexican Repatriation Program & Operation Wetback

The first extremely large U.S. mass deportation of Mexican descent individuals occurred between 1929 to 1936. It was known as the "Mexican Repatriation" and began during the Herbert Hoover administration. At this time, both politicians and the majority white ruling class used Mexicans as a scapegoat for the Great Depression overlooking the real root cause of Wall Street's investor panic. Estimates on the number of people deported range from 300,000 to 2 million with 'over half' being Mexican-Americans born in the U.S. It was officially ended with the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt who established the Bracerto Program which evenutally brought all the displaced workers back.

During the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhauer another mass deportation known by the ethnically slurring name "Operation Wetback" began in 1954. Despite the U.S. government officially reporting that 1.3 million people were deported during this program, most analysts and historians agree that the reality was much lower at less than half of this number. Operation Wetback was organized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and General Joseph Swing to use military style tactics enforced by the Border Patrol to capture Mexican workers. Most of the people apprehended were tightly packed into buses, boats, and planes which brought comparisons to slave ships despite that a great many of those deported were initially brought to the U.S. legally through the Bracero Program. Many U.S. born Mexican Americans were once again relocated to Mexico, a country which many of them had never known or seen before. Operation Wetback was short lived and considered to be a failure due to the continuance of illegal immigration and a public outcry over the removal of many U.S. citizens.

Largest Protest Demonstration in U.S. History & How It May Have Saved Millions From Trump's Deportation

On March 25th, 2006, the largest ‘ever’ mass public protest demonstration in U.S. history occurred on many of the major streets of downtown Los Angeles. Officially, it was called “La Gran Marcha” (LGM) by a group of community organizers with myself being one of them. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, it is now also being referred to as “The Great March” (TGM) in an effort to have it be more commonly known to the majority of the English speaking population of the United States. Despite the common trend of many in media, politics, and other circles who are extremely quick in giving crowd size numbers to public gatherings through some mysteriously unknown process for their own purposes of sensationalism and/or over-and-under glorification of events; the truth of the matter is, that, accurate crowd counts are nearly impossible to determine when any function is not a ticketed event. Under the strict scrutiny of three separate higher academic institutions ( i.e. San Jose State University, St. Mary's University, and UT Austin ), it is now known to be fact that the initially reported crowd size of 500 thousand participants reported next day by the Los Angeles Times was glaringly incorrect. Upon an extensive photographic analysis by these three respected universities, it has now been absolutely determined that on this historic day between 1.3 and 1.5 million protestors assembled in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. In comparison to any other event, it is now undoubtedly known that The Great March was the "largest single assembly" of people ever gathered at any one place at the same time in all of U.S. history.

Amazingly, to this day, 18 years later very few people know anything about The Great March (a.k.a. La Gran Marcha) by either of its given names. It is still not being taught about in any of the public nor private schools of the United States. It is also rarely talked about by any of the mainstream U.S. media outlets. With the onset of Donald Trump's latest push for another mass deporation, all of this may soon change.

What was The Great March and How Might It Keep Many in the U.S.A.

To appreciate the significance of The Great March (TGM) and how it may have helped save millions from the threat of Trump's mass deportation, an understanding on the implications of its intended measures must be known.

The Great March of 2006 was a U.S. Latino community reaction to a bill introduced in the House of Representative during the 109th Congress. It was officially called Bill No. H.R.4437 and labeled the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Act of 2005." It was authored by two House Republicans, Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin and Peter King of New York. H.R.4437 was approved by a Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives on December 16, 2005, and was well on its way to being passed by the Republican controlled Senate as well. At the time of organizing TGM, the Oval Office was additionally occupied by a Republican president. Although often perceived as very sympathetic to immigrants, President George Bush Jr. was under heavy pressure by his party to not veto the bill if presented for a signature on his desk at The White House.

The primary points of contention for the marchers and all of us who fought to defeat HR 4437 were these. If HR 4437 was to have become law, the following would have happened within days of passage: 1) immediately turned an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants from being misdemeanor offenders into the categorization of hardcore criminal felony offenders; 2) charged "any" person who knowingly aides an undocumented person to remain in the U.S. ( without their proper documentation already approved and in good standing order ) to be guilty of criminal “smuggling” -- this would have included those of the clergy, nonprofit sectors, and even the medical professions; 3) required local law enforcement to act as federal immigration agents; 4) required the construction of a complete southern border barrier in the form of a wall and/or fence with Mexico, while leaving the northern border with Canada to remain virtually open; 5) required the creation of a new employment verification system with "a unified database to be maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and comprised of data from the Social Security Administration" -- this also necessitated that every inhabitant of this country who would be seeking legal employment be required to carry a new type of social security card "made of a durable plastic" that "include an encrypted machine-readable electronic identification strip" or chip that "be issued to each individual (whether or not a U.S. citizen)." In addition to these five main commonly mentioned statutes, there were also some other extreme provisions less commonly known that even Nazi Germany of the 1940s did not enact. Sound extreme? Hear this. Homeland Security was being given the authority to act solely "without judicial review."

One of the the most remarkable things of La Gran Marcha is not only was it the largest U.S. demonstration. It was thereby also the most peaceful. The L.A.P.D. didn't report on even one arrest. This day should literally be included in the curriculum of every U.S. history classroom. The mass protests against H.R. 4437, marked a transformative moment in American immigration history. These demonstrations, which erupted across the United States in 2006, mobilized millions of people—Latinos, immigrants, and allies—who opposed the legislation’s harsh measures. The legislation sought to criminalize undocumented immigrants and those who provided them assistance. These protests not only defeated H.R. 4437 but also laid the groundwork for the resilience that helped thwart the sweeping deportation plans of President Donald Trump a decade later. H.R. 4437, passed by the Republican-controlled House in December 2005, proposed stringent penalties for undocumented immigrants and expanded the role of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement. The law’s criminalization of aid to undocumented immigrants triggered widespread outrage, as it threatened not only immigrants but also religious, humanitarian, and community groups that supported them. In response, millions took to the streets in early 2006, forming one of the largest grassroots movements in U.S. history. Protesters in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas carried signs proclaiming “We Are America,” asserting their contributions to the nation and rejecting the criminalization of immigrant communities. These demonstrations did more than block H.R. 4437—they galvanized a political awakening among immigrants and their allies. The movement fostered solidarity, advocacy networks, and a collective voice for immigrant rights. Latino voters became a crucial political constituency, and immigration reform emerged as a central issue in national politics. The defeat of H.R. 4437 also sent a clear message to lawmakers: harsh anti-immigrant measures would provoke widespread resistance. This legacy of resistance proved critical during the Trump presidency, which was marked by attempts to implement mass deportations and enact xenophobic immigration policies. Trump’s administration sought to expand deportations, eliminate protections like DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and target sanctuary cities. However, the infrastructure of resistance built during and after 2006 blunted these efforts. Advocacy groups, many born out of the H.R. 4437 protests, mobilized communities, provided legal aid, and organized mass opposition. Cities and states resisted federal efforts to conscript local authorities into immigration enforcement, with many reaffirming their status as sanctuaries.

The protests against H.R. 4437 were a pivotal moment that reshaped the trajectory of immigration activism in the United States. They not only halted the immediate threat of punitive legislation but also sowed the seeds of a movement that would defend immigrant communities in the years to come. This enduring spirit of resistance was instrumental in mitigating Trump’s deportation agenda, safeguarding millions of families from the devastating impact of mass removals. Through unity and resilience, the legacy of 2006 continues to shape the fight for immigrant justice in America.