CALIFORNIA SENATE BILL No. 670

BILL NUMBER: SB 670 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Dunn

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2005

   An act relating to Mexican repatriation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

   SB 670, as introduced, Dunn.   Mexican repatriation program of the
1930s.
   This bill would enact the "Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican
Repatriation Program" and make findings and declarations regarding
the unconstitutional removal and coerced emigration of United States
citizens and legal residents of Mexican descent, between the years
1929 and 1944, to Mexico from the United States during the 1930s
"Mexican Repatriation" Program.
   The bill would express the apology of the State of California to
those individuals who were illegally deported and coerced into
emigrating to Mexico and would require that a plaque be placed and
maintained in a public place to commemorate this event.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Apology Act for the 1930s
Mexican Repatriation Program."
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Beginning in 1929, government authorities and certain private
sector entities in California and throughout the United States
undertook an aggressive program to forcibly remove persons of Mexican
ancestry from the United States.
   (b) In California alone, approximately 400,000 American citizens
and legal residents of Mexican ancestry were forcibly removed to
Mexico.
   (c) In total, it is estimated that two million people of Mexican
ancestry were forcibly relocated to Mexico, approximately 1.2 million
of whom had been born in the United States, including the State of
California.
    (d) Throughout California, massive raids were conducted on
Mexican-American communities, resulting in the clandestine removal of
thousands of people, many of whom were never able to return to the
United States, their country of birth.
   (e) These raids also had the effect of coercing thousands of
people to leave the country in the face of threats and acts of
violence.
   (f) These raids indiscriminately targeted persons of Mexican
ancestry, with authorities and others characterizing these persons as
"illegal aliens" even when they were United States citizens or
permanent legal residents.
   (g) Authorities in California and other states instituted programs
to wrongfully remove persons of Mexican ancestry and secure
transportation arrangements with railroads, automobiles, ships, and
airlines to effectuate the wholesale removal of persons out of the
United States to Mexico.
   (h) As a result of these illegal activities, families were forced
to abandon, or were defrauded of, personal and real property, which
often was sold by local authorities as "payment" for the
transportation expenses incurred in their removal from the United
States to Mexico.
   (i) As a further result of these illegal activities, United States
citizens and legal residents were separated from their families and
country and were deprived of their livelihood and United States
constitutional rights.
   (j) As a further result of these illegal activities, United States
citizens were deprived of the right to participate in the political
process guaranteed to all citizens, thereby resulting in the tragic
denial of due process and equal protection of the laws.
SEC. 3. The State of California apologizes to those individuals
described in Section 2 for the fundamental violations of their basic
civil liberties and constitutional rights committed during the period
of illegal deportation and coerced emigration. The State of
California regrets the suffering and hardship those individuals and
their families endured as a direct result of the government sponsored
Repatriation Program of the 1930s.
SEC. 4. A plaque shall commemorate the individuals described in
Section 2 and shall be placed and maintained at a public place.