As her junior year of high school came to a close in 2023, Tamara Gisiger’s history teacher tasked the class with a research project of their choosing.

A then-17-year-old Gisiger narrowed in on what she called an “underground, hurtful and dark part of history that just isn’t talked about” — the Mexican repatriation that took place in the 1930s amid the Great Depression.

The repatriation involved deporting 1 million people with Mexican heritage, 60% of whom were American-born citizens, and was one of the largest deportations in American history, according to Gisiger, who lives in New York City.

The epicenter took place in Los Angeles, where up to 75,000 Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were deported by train — oftentimes at Union Station — in one year, Gisiger, now 19, said in a phone interview, reciting the dates and numbers off the top of her head.

Gisiger’s research has involved contact with descendants of those deported and eventually led to a panel at the United Nations’ Hispanic Leadership Summit last December. It could soon lead to a new law in California to create a statue memorializing a portion of history that politicians, academics and community leaders say is at risk of happening again.

“It’s so important that [the bill] is happening now,” said Gisiger, who is of Mexican and Swiss descent. “Next year will be the 95th anniversary of the start of the Mexican repatriation .…Hopefully, the statue and educating people can stop history from repeating itself.”

The bill, which faces a hearing Wednesday, is authored by Sens. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) and Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), both of whom felt driven to commemorate the lives affected by the repatriation.

Becker said he met with Gisiger and her family and discovered upon reading her research paper how much he didn’t know about that time in history. He tagged in Gonzalez, who said she also did not learn much about the repatriation while attending public school in California.

Gonzalez, whose mother is a Mexican immigrant, said that the statue is important to combat “political rhetoric that basically is trying to bring back that history.”

Agricultural workers of Mexican descent await deportation in 1950 in California.

(Los Angeles Times)

“Let’s be very clear: [Former President] Trump has promised mass deportations in this election cycle, even mass deportations of people who have American children,” Gonzalez said. “He’s bringing back this generational trauma that so many of us have pushed aside.”

Trump has put fears about immigration at the center of his campaign and suggested using the National Guard to target between 15 million and 20 million people for deportation. He’s said he intends to launch “the largest mass deportation in the history of our country.”

Republican Assemblymember Tom Lackey of Palmdale said that although he supports the bill, he felt it was a “very unfair characterization” to compare the repatriation with current day immigration.

“The issue of illegal immigration is a very emotional issue,” Lackey said. “I think that sending people back, and the way that they did it in that day, is much different. Those are people that did not break any rules or any laws by being here.”

Lackey described the memorial as an opportunity to show how “this country has made mistakes in its developments.”

“I think it’s very, very healthy to acknowledge poor decision making and things that were done that shouldn’t have been done so that we don’t repeat them,” he said.

The statue’s planning process would involve creating a nonprofit organization to oversee fundraising and development of a memorial in L.A., which supporters hope will be ready in time for either the 2026 World Cup or 2028 Olympics. The cost has not yet been determined, but supporters of the bill say it will be funded by private donations and not state dollars.

“The fact that there are some major events coming is important because, again, the whole goal of this is for people to learn about this part of history, acknowledge this part of our history, because that’s the only way we can try to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Becker said.

As for location, Gisiger envisions the memorial’s placement at either Union Station or a green space near Olvera Street. There’s no set design for the memorial, but Gisiger hopes it can be carved by a Mexican sculptor and show how families were separated due to the mass deportations by train.

“Through the statue, we need to be able to give respect, courage and honor to all the families of the Mexican Americans who need to hear that their family sacrifices were all worth it,” she said.

Efforts — and lawsuits — have been mounted in the past to address the repatriation’s impact in California. One of the most recent attempts came in 2005, when California issued a formal apology and required that a plaque be erected in L.A. The plaque was unveiled in February 2012 near the La Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

The statue that would be created from Becker and Gonzalez’s bill, however, could result in a more robust tribute and become an act of restorative justice, according to Kevin Johnson, dean of UC Davis’ law school and professor of public interest law.

“It also could help educate the community about what happened and how it affected people during a time about how they identified themselves,” Johnson said.

Martin Cabrera’s late grandfather Emilio Cabrera, who was born in Wilmington, didn’t dwell too much on the day he was deported in 1931 at about 12 years old. He was expelled via train, but was able to later return to the U.S.

Emilio Cabrera and his wife Maria Asuncion in 1934. Although a U.S. citizen, Cabrera was deported to Mexico at age 12, but later returned.

(Family photo)

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“I couldn’t understand it as a person growing up — how can he be deported when he was born in the United States? But it was what was taking place at the time. There were a lot of comments that said Mexicans are taking all the jobs,” Cabrera said from his office in Chicago.

Emilio, who died in 2005, refrained from contemplating the past, because, for him, there was too much work to be done, his grandson said.

“It was something that happened, and you deal with it and you keep working,” Cabrera said. “And that’s the one thing he instilled in us: hard work ethic. There’s always challenges in life.”

Cabrera hopes the statue will contain an uplifting message, perhaps one that can pay homage to the resilience of the Latino community in light of his grandfather’s legacy.

“That’s what I think is the key message,” he said, “that there are no limits on what we can do.”

A top police officer and ally of controversial Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard was indicted Monday by a federal grand jury on bankruptcy fraud charges.

Lewis A. Lacey, 61, the former deputy chief of police of Dolton, Illinois, is accused of concealing assets and income to avoid paying creditors and settling a lawsuit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois. The nine-count indictment charges Lacey with bankruptcy fraud, making false statements in a bankruptcy case and perjury.

Lacey has been an outspoken supporter of the embattled Henyard, who has been dogged in scandal for months after being accused of misdeeds ranging from weaponizing police raids to spending taxpayer money on luxuries in Las Vegas.

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According to the indictment, Lacey filed a 2019 bankruptcy petition shortly after a plaintiff moved to enforce a settlement agreement, accusing Lacey of still owing $43,000 of the $55,000 settlement. He also filed a bankruptcy petition in 2020.

He made several false and fraudulent representations in oral statements and documents submitted in the bankruptcy cases, including underreporting his monthly income and concealing bank accounts that he controlled, the indictment states. Among other things, Lacey falsely represented that he was separated from his spouse and that she did not reside with him or contribute to his monthly income and mortgage.

The false representations allowed Lacey to fraudulently calculate his monthly income for purposes of repayment of his creditors as substantially less than it should have been if his spouse’s contributions were included, the indictment states. The indictment is part of an ongoing federal investigation.

During the charged fraud scheme, Lacey served as a police officer with the Dolton Police Department. He was fired last week as the town’s deputy police chief to save costs during a contentious village board meeting involving Henyard, Fox 32 Chicago reports. 

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, left, and Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard. (Getty Images/Village of Dolton)

Lacey’s lawyer, Gal Pissetzky, told the New York Post that the indictment is part of a “bigger plan by the government to try to indict the mayor of Dolton.”

Pissetzky told the outlet that his client was innocent of the charges and that the feds only wanted to use Lacey to help build up a criminal case against Henyard. Lacey faces up to 45 years in prison if found guilty on all charges.

“They’re going after certain people in the village to see who’s gonna turn on the mayor,” Pissetzky said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Henyard’s office but did not immediately receive a response. 

Last week’s meeting featured a presentation by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about her investigation into Dolton’s “dire” financial situation. The Village of Dolton hired Lightfoot as a “special investigator” to look into Henyard’s alleged misdeeds.  

Lightfoot stated that in April 2022, Dolton’s general fund balance was $5.61 million, but by May 2024, the balance had dropped to a deficit of $3.65 million.

Lightfoot also disclosed that Henyard used the village credit card to make purchases at Amazon, Target, Walgreens, Wayfair and other retailers. 

One jaw-dropping statement revealed that the embattled mayor had dropped $33,000 on Jan. 5, 2023 on Amazon. 

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Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during an event at the University of Chicago. (REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski)

“These are somebody using the credit card and charging these amounts using your tax dollars,” Lightfoot told residents.

Lightfoot said that the preliminary investigation also revealed that two police officers had received overtime pay exceeding their annual salaries. 

One officer’s salary for fiscal year 2024 was $87,295, yet the officer received $114,800 in overtime pay. The second officer, with a salary of $73,515, received $102,077 in overtime pay for fiscal year 2024.

The reports have been a pressure point for the city, which has a population of slightly more than 20,000, according to a July 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The accusations of financial misdeeds have prompted an ongoing FBI investigation.

Henyard, who typically speaks into a golden microphone at meetings, has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during a Las Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Henyard’s cancer charity is also facing scrutiny.

Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard has been living like a royal with a combined salary of nearly $300,000 — more than the state’s governor — despite the 23,000 residents of the Illinois town having a median income of $24,000.

Mayor Tiffany Henyard is styled by her fashion consultant. (stylemebrandon | Instagram/screenshot)

In February, it was reported that the FBI was investigating Henyard after six people had reportedly spoken to the agency about her alleged misconduct, including “business owners, a former village employee and one or more public officials.” 

In April, the FBI served two federal subpoenas as part of an investigation. Henyard was not served.

The first one was for employment records, personnel files and disciplinary reports for 25 Dolton employees, including three police officers and Keith Freeman, who is the village administrator and Henyard’s top aide. Freeman was charged with bankruptcy fraud.

The second subpoena was served specifically on Freeman, asking for records of all companies associated with him and possible ties to the village.

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

Donald Trump, JD Vance and other Republicans incessantly disparage Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as the Biden administration’s “failed border czar.” That seriously distorts and shortchanges both the immigration policy she pursued and her record in implementing it.

“Border czar” is a gross mischaracterization of Harris’ role in the administration’s immigration policymaking. She was never tasked with fixing border enforcement.

In fact, her remit was to promote a different, complementary approach to controlling unwanted immigration: addressing why migrants felt it necessary to leave their homes.

Experts agree that attacking the factors driving international migration — poverty, joblessness, drug and gang violence, agricultural failures due to climate change, corruption and other rule-of-law challenges — is essential to reducing pressure on our southern border. Absent success on that front, tweaking U.S. border enforcement will never have a lasting impact.

But efforts to address the “root causes” of immigration must be undertaken within a realistic time frame. The drivers of migration have been intensifying for decades or even generations in the countries that produce most of the influx. It will take years — probably extending over several presidential terms — for a root-causes approach to achieve highly visible results.

So investments in addressing root causes aren’t a quick fix, but neglecting them entirely or until the border is “secure” — as Trump and other Republicans insist — only delays sustainable management of immigration. Harris helped lay the groundwork for longer-term solutions through intensive diplomacy with Latin American leaders and other interests.

This points to another requisite of the root-causes strategy: It can’t be implemented unilaterally. It requires often messy, difficult negotiations with other governments, civil society groups, development banks and multinational corporations.

Harris’ aptly named “Partnership for Central America,” launched in July 2021, was such an all-hands effort. It raised more than $5.2 billion in private-sector commitments for job-creating projects in immigration-producing countries. To pull this off, Harris had to maneuver around formidable impediments to effective governance in countries such as Honduras and Guatemala, where authoritarian presidents were deeply implicated in corruption and drug trafficking.

Harris’ first task was to persuade elected officials in the three “Northern Triangle” countries — Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — to get on board with U.S.-led development projects there. Then she had to persuade multinational corporations to finance job creation and bring civil society groups into these public-private partnerships. Diplomacy, fundraising and coalition-building were all necessary for success.

Addressing the causes of migration has another important and unavoidable limitation: It can’t be done on a global scale. The need for sustained diplomacy, coalition-building and corralling of private capital makes that impractical.

Harris’ geographic portfolio was limited to Mexico and the Northern Triangle. When she began working on the project, that small subset of countries accounted for most of the migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But as the COVID-19 pandemic abated, the migrants became much more diverse in their national origins. In 2021, dozens of countries — including China, India, Russia and much smaller countries such as Mauritania — began exporting large numbers of migrants. They streamed through Ecuador, Colombia and Panama’s Darién Gap. Millions more poured out of Venezuela due to economic collapse and political violence under Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

By the end of last year, more than half of the migrants arriving at the southern border came from places other than Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries. Suddenly, the challenges of managing migration had become much steeper. This was a sea change in global migration for which Harris was in no way responsible but that enormously complicated her task.

Even so, the vice president’s efforts to implement a narrowly focused root-causes strategy had tangible results. Migration from the Northern Triangle to the U.S. border in recent years has steadily declined even as the flow of Mexicans fleeing a surge of drug cartel violence has increased.

Harris deserves her share of credit for this. The Biden-Harris administration’s record on border enforcement is certainly mixed, but that should not distract from the progress made through Harris’ efforts to address the causes of immigration.

For too many in Latin America, staying home is the worst possible option. If that calculus is ever to change, investments like those championed by Harris must be made — and not treated as a political football.

Nor do mixed results on border enforcement excuse Congress’ abject failure to fix a badly broken immigration system that hasn’t been reformed since the 1990s. Inadequate pathways for legal immigration only encourage unauthorized migration regardless of the causes.

Wayne A. Cornelius is a distinguished professor of political science emeritus at UC San Diego and was the founding director of the university’s Mexican Migration Field Research Program.