Dean Johnson Quoted on PolitiFact.com
Dean Kevin R. Johnson was quoted on PolitiFact.com, the political fact-checking website sponsored by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, on statements circulating in an unsigned chain email asserting that "during The Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens."
The article notes that although there were mass deportations during the 1930s, they were initiated by cities and counties, not the federal government. "In the 'repatriation,' about 1 million persons of Mexican ancestry, at the encouragement/coercion of state and local governments, with federal support, were 'returned' to Mexico," stated Dean Johnson. "Persons who 'looked' Mexican in public places, such as parks and plazas, were arrested and taken in buses, trains, and cars to the U.S.-Mexico border."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.