BISBEE DEPORTATION

 The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 was a significant event in the history of labor relations in the United States, occurring in the mining town of Bisbee, Arizona. On July 12, 1917, amidst labor tensions heightened by the demands of World War I, over 1,000 striking mine workers, along with sympathizers and bystanders, were forcibly rounded up by a posse organized by the Phelps Dodge Corporation, the major mining company in the area. These individuals were predominantly members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

The assembled group, which included deputized citizens and company loyalists, seized the strikers under the pretext of maintaining order and national security. The strikers and their supporters were herded onto cattle cars and transported 200 miles through the desert to Hermanas, New Mexico, without provisions for food or water, where they were abandoned.

The deportation was ostensibly justified by concerns that the strike would impede copper production critical for the war effort. However, it also served to break the strike and weaken the influence of labor unions in the region. The event drew national attention and was later investigated by a Congressional committee, but no one was ever prosecuted for the actions taken during the deportation.

The Bisbee Deportation remains a controversial chapter in American labor history, illustrating the lengths to which companies and authorities would go to suppress labor unrest during a critical period in the nation’s development.