From en.wiktionary.org:
** English
[wetback (slur)]
*** Etymology
First used in the [1920]s from the presumed effects of swimming or wading
across the [Rio Grande]. Used by the U.S. Government in 1954 with [Operation
Wetback].
*** Pronunciation
- [wĕtbăk] , [en]
- [en]
*** Noun
[en-noun]
1. [en] A Mexican or Central American who illegal ly enters the United States of America from its southern border.
2. * 1920 , _Temporary admission of illiterate Mexican laborers:_ Hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 66th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 141, <sup> see https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008598050 </sup>
3. *: Mr. H <small> UDSPETH </small> . [...] I stood here and did all in my power to keep the “ WETBACK ” [...] from coming across. And I stand here to-day asking for that.
4. *: The C <small> HAIRMAN </small> . [...] What is a “ WETBACK ”?
5. *: Mr. H <small> UDSPETH </small> . You have heard a “ WETBACK ” described; he is a fellow that crosses the river surreptitiously.
6. * {{ quote-journal | en | title=United Nations: Objectivity | journal= [Time (magazine)] | date=27 March 1950 | titleurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624135240/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,805287,00.html
|passage=The charges against the U.S. had cited cases of peonage and labor
under forced contracts in Maine, Connecticut, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia and
California. They had revealed that thousands of “ WETBACKS” (i.e., Mexican
laborers who wade the Rio Grande in search of work in the U.S.) lived in
squalor and poverty, sometimes were paid as little as $8 a week.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1997 | author=w:Saul Bellow | title= [The Actual (novel)] | url=https://archive.org/details/actual00bell | page=12 | publisher=Viking | location=New York
|passage=He went through a couple of bottles of wine and made a speech
denouncing WETBACKS and Asian immigrants.}}
1. * {{ quote-book | en | year=2015 | author=w:John Irving | title=w:Avenue of Mysteries | publisher=Knopf | location=Canada | chapter=2
|passage=A successful WETBACK, the limo driver was thinking—that was his
assessment of his Mexican-American passenger.}}
1. [en] A person of the mestizo race; a _mojado_ .
**** Derived terms
- [en]
**** Translations
[Mexican or Central American who illegally enters the United States]
- Spanish: [es] , [es]
[trans-bottom]
[person of the mestizo race] [trans-bottom]
*** See also
- [en]
- [en]
[en]