Wetback is a derogatory term for a person that has immigrated illegally to the United States. Commonly referring to Mexicans, the term is based on the presumption that the person in question swam or waded across the Rio Grande to get into the United States, getting his or her back wet in the process. The English term was first used in 1920s[1] and saw official use by the U.S. Government in 1954 with Operation Wetback. Wetback may refer to: Wetback=dem dirty mexicans getrdun Wetback, Illegal Aliens in the United States, primarily applied to undocumented Mexican immigrants. ... A slur can be anything from an insinuation or critical remark to an insult. ... Swimmer redirects here. ... âRÃo Bravoâ redirects here. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article describes the government of the United States. ... Operation Wetback was a 1954 project of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to remove about 1. ...
The term is the same in Spanish: espalda mojada. It is typically used by legal immigrants against illegal immigrants.
Wetback-term used in the 1950s ~ A worker in the fields (picking grapes) on hot days would have a fellow worker throw water from a bucket onto the back to help cool the body.