Deportation Narrative

April 23, 1938

A joke. We all thought it was a joke. We never expected that the government
could seriously do something as ridiculous as this. My name is James Reber, and I am an
American citizen. I have lived in the United States my whole life, specifically Arizona, and for
the most part I have been proud of my country. Sure we have gone through a mess these last few
years with the economy failing fast, but regardless I was still content with my life and proud of
my nation. Then things started to change. People started to no longer trust one another. Attitudes
were given towards people who didn't deserve it because assumptions were being made left and
right (DOC A). In Arizona especially, these assumptions were made towards Mexicans. My
neighbor Javier was one of the many people whose lives were shattered in almost an instance.
Over the last year, it was becoming clear that people were being mistreated. Javier was
often shunned by the neighbors, with the exception of myself and Bill across the street, and he
would often talk about how he always felt uncomfortable (DOC B) . Then about 3 months ago
Javier received a letter. It was sent from the city of Phoenix. Addressed specifically to him,
Javier shared with us the contents of the letter. It was a formal letter that was requesting he leave
the country. We couldn't believe that the state would do such a thing, and so we scrapped the
letter. Everything seemed fine until a month ago when Javier received another letter, this one sent
from the Federal government. Again we thought this was irrelevant and advised Javier to scrap
the letter. Ignoring these letters was a great mistake (DOC D). Just last week Government
officials arrived at Javiers house around 3 in the morning. We were woken up to the sound of a
loud bang, and we soon discovered that there was a raid. The government had come for Javier
and were planning to send him back to Mexico themselves. In a matter of minutes, he was gone.

The house was vacated and refurbished for sale. His job was hiring for a new position. It
appeared that everyone was ok with his being gone. But to me it makes no sense. If the
government is willing to do this, what else could they do to keep this country secure.