Revised Edition of “Decade of Betrayal” Released

The University of New Mexico Press has recently published a revised edition of Francisco E. Balderrama & Raymond Rodriguez, Decade of Betrayal:  Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s.  The release of this revision of this classic book on the removal from the country of hundreds of thousands of persons of Mexican ancestry, about two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, is especially timely in light of the national ferment over immigration, especially immigration from Mexico.

The revised edition includes a new chapter on efforts to bring the “repatriation” to national attention, including a set of hearings in the California Legislature that featured the testimony of, among others, some of the repatriates.  In January 2006, Givernor Schwarzenegger signed into law an apology for the state’s role in the repatriation.  Congressmember Hilda Solis a few weeks ago introduced a bill in the House that, if passed, would create a commission to look at this unfortunate, yet largely unkown episode in U.S. history.

KJ