The song, Deportees, is one of Woody Guthrie‘s most popular. It can be heard in musical sessions across the island of Ireland being made famous by Christy Moore here. It laments the way in which migrant workers, who cross the border from Mexico into the US, are used to harvest the crops before being deported, only for the process to begin again for the next harvest.
Here, it is performed by Arlo Guthrie and his very talented family. Mary Travers was a singer in the US folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary. She died in 2009. Today, we can see how any song about the abuse of migrants is relevant and Arlo makes reference to this in his intro. Sadly, migrants have always been abused. Are some things destined never to change?
Rebel Voice 