Schwarzenegger Refuses Pay those Deported to Mexico in Depression

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill on Friday that would have allowed legal residents and U.S. citizens of Mexican descent to file for damages decades after being deported during in a Depression-era program to free up jobs. While expressing sympathy toward those involuntarily returned to Mexico from California between 1929 and 1944, the Republican governor said the victims had had time to pursue legal action before the statute of limitations ran out. Schwarzenegger added that allowing claims until 2006 could burden the courts with thousands of cases and result in increased costs to state and local governments. The "Mexican Repatriation" took place during the Great Depression when the U.S. government searched for ways to ease economic hardship and make more jobs available. More than 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, including many U.S.-born American citizens, were forced to leave their homes in areas with large Hispanic populations, such as California and Texas. The California measure would have given those who were U.S. citizens or legal residents and their heirs until Dec. 31, 2006, to make claims for damages in California courts. [more ]