How Los Angeles used a police blockade to deport the Great Depression's migrants
In short: In 1936, as the Great Depression gripped America, Los Angeles launched a controversial operation known as the Bum Blockade. Led by the LAPD, this policy sought to patrol borders and forcibly deport migrants, revealing a deep-seated desire to maintain a specific demographic homogeneity.
The Great Depression, triggered by the massive stock market crash on October 29, 1929—known as Black Tuesday—saw the market lose fourteen billion dollars in a single day. This economic devastation, which lasted roughly ten years until the onset of World War II around 1939, drove massive internal migrations across the United States. Among the most affected were those fleeing the Dust Bowl, seeking new lives in the West. This catastrophic loss of value, which equates to approximately $188 billion in today's currency, signaled the start of a decade-long economic downturn. The era of hardship only began to subside as the global landscape shifted toward World War II.
In early February 1936, Los Angeles Deputy Chief of Police James Edgar Davis implemented a specific and aggressive response to this influx: the Bum Blockade. The policy functioned on two fronts: establishing a border patrol to prevent new migrants from entering California and actively deporting those already within the state back to their previous homes.
While often overlooked in broader historical examinations of the era, the Bum Blockade serves as a window into the intense social conflicts regarding citizenship, state rights, and interstate migration. Research by Hailey Giczy suggests that the operation was more than just a policing tactic; it reflected a community effort to use class status as a way to reinforce racialized attitudes toward outsiders. By targeting the displaced, the Los Angeles authorities and the local community worked to preserve a demographically homogenous city, effectively using the policing of poverty to uphold existing social hierarchies.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Bum Brigade
- Also: The Bum Blockade: Los Angeles and the Great Depression
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