FEATURE - FORCIBLE REPATRIATION

More from Gwen on instances of forcibly repatriating people.

Marcus Garvey's Pan-African movement is an instance of voluntary repatriation.

Sadly, history shows that more often, people have been uprooted in acts of forcible repatriation.

The brutal eviction of hundreds of thousands of people has often occurred at the end of wars - when victors redraw the boundaries of entire nations.

For example, following World War II, the Yalta agreement redrafted the map of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union forced out a quarter of a million Poles from land the Soviets now claimed as their own, and over a million defeated Germans were extricated from land claimed by Poland.

America's own experience with repatriation has often involved efforts to assert racial purity and to maintain a dominantly Anglo-American society.

The Great Depression saw a concerted effort to free up the labor market for Americans of more "traditional" ethnic stock.

Some half a million Mexicans were returned to their country of origin, along with their American born children — who were, of course, American citizens.

Only in 1965 did American immigration laws welcome people of all ethnic backgrounds.

We can see the results of that much-delayed legislation all around us today.

The United States has become one of the most diverse nations in human history.