The exploitation of the Irish and the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 19th century. The Japanese internment camps and Mexican Repatriation in the 20th century.

Every generation of American history has a group of immigrants who came into the country, but were cut out by the American people. With the current Syrian refugee crisis and immigration policies being hotly debated among presidential candidates, people are looking to the past to find solutions for the present.

A new law that requires the state to include the mass deportation of over one million immigrants of Mexican descent in the 1930s in future textbooks provides a relevant reminder to our society of our dark history of forcing citizens out of their country.

This mass deportation is known as the Mexican Repatriation. During this government sponsored movement, millions of Latinos were deported, or “encouraged” to return to Mexico. Many of these, estimated up to around 60%, were American born citizens of Mexican descent.

In some places in the Los Angeles county, areas were cordoned off and the Police conducted raids where they rounded up all  Mexicans regardless of their legal status. The movement was based more on the idea that “Mexicans should go home!” than whether or not they have proper documentation.

Much like today, one of the principal arguments against Mexicans was that they were “stealing” jobs that “belonged” to Americans.

“I think one needs to keep in mind that in the American public at that time, Mexicans were targeted as a scapegoat partly because they are the most recent immigrant group to come to the United States in the early 20th century,” said Francisco Balderrama, author of the book “Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in The 1930s”.

These actions bear strong similarities to the words of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. He wants to deport all “illegal”  immigrants,  including children who were born here but whose parents were not. This number adds up to around a whopping 11 million people.

Trump’s accusations, and the opinion of many other immigrants are founded on myths that immigrants are a drag on our economy and a danger to our society. The reality is that these ideas are rooted in a fear of the foreign caused by whatever crises that are happening at the time. Studies and facts have demonstrated that many myths about immigrants, such as that they are a drag on our economy and a danger to society, are untrue. Yet, we continue to blame them for our problems, and no change ever happens.

Although most people lack Trump’s audacity in calling Mexicans drug dealers, rapists, and criminals, we as a country have a history of greeting immigrants with prejudice and distrust.

Instead of following this pattern of scapegoating and unsubstantiated blame, Americans should search for a solution to our fear that doesn’t involve rounding up or deporting an entire race of people.  By teaching this topic, this law is ensuring that the future generations have the knowledge necessary to avoid repeating the same mistakes.