Not to put too fine a point on this, and I'm very sorry to use this language, but Eisenhower presided over what was called Operation Wetback that ran from 1953 to 1954 and led to the deportations of between hundreds of thousands to up to over a million people, many of whom were U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. It's a historic shame on our policy decisions as a country.

The media covered the raids of farms and factories with breathless enthusiasm and support for INS agents and extolled their professionalism. Meanwhile, the reality was quite different, as many detainees were beaten, had their heads shaved for identification purposes, and in one instance, quote, 88 detainees died of exposure in the 112 degree heat just past the country.

Whether it was the goal or not, the legacy of this operation is attaching the appearance of criminality to just being an immigrant from Latin America.