In 1954, the U.S. government initiated Operation Wetback, a mass deportation campaign targeting undocumented Mexican immigrants. Under the Eisenhower administration, a task force of Border Patrol agents swept through southern California and Texas, apprehending and deporting millions of individuals. The operation was driven by economic concerns and anti-immigrant sentiment, and it is widely viewed by historians as a dark moment in American history. While the program succeeded in deporting large numbers, it was ultimately ineffective in limiting illegal immigration.

Operation Wetback is a significant subject in Chicano literature, representing a period of intense state-sanctioned persecution and displacement. The event has been explored in poetry and prose as a symbol of the precariousness of immigrant life and the racialized nature of U.S. immigration policy. Works by writers like Rodolfo 'Corky' Gonzales and Luis Alberto Urrea often reference or allude to this chapter in history to underscore the struggles of the Mexican-American community.