As illegal immigration continues to be a talking point among the presidential candidates, an e-mail has resurfaced in inboxes across the country - including our newsroom - claiming three U.S. presidents deported millions of undocumented immigrants.
The unsigned chain e-mail claims that presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman deported a total of 15 million undocumented immigrants.
Here's how it reads:
PolitiFact truth-checked this claim back in 2010.
During Hoover's administration in the Great Depression, some cities, such as Los Angeles and Detroit, did return some undocumented immigrants back to their country of origin. However, that number was closer to 1 million people.
Under Truman, experts could not find any proof that he deported 2 million undocumented immigrants.
As for Eisenhower, he is indeed associated with Operation Wetback, a program that targeted undocumented immigrants.
Separately, the government brought in Mexican workers to fill jobs legally under the Bracero program, which started during World War II. But companies illegally brought in their own Mexican workers.
In 1953 and 1954, under Eisenhower, the federal government targeted people outside the Bracero program and those who crossed the border illegally, as up to 1.3 million people were deported.
But that still doesn't come anywhere close to the 15 million reportedly deported as the email claims. However, over the 30-year-period of the three presidents, which includes Franklin D. Roosevelt's terms, the number is just under 6 million.
PolitiFact rated this chain e-mail as False.
