Deportees
Arlo Guthrie Lyrics

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting
The harvest is complete, but no one is there to collect the rotten fruit.

The oranges are piled in their cresote dumps
The oranges are wasted, left to pile up in dirt and debris.

They're flying you back to the Mexico border
The authorities are taking undocumented immigrants back to Mexico.

To pay all your money to wade back again
The immigrants must pay money to cross the border back into the United States.

My father's own father, he wanted that river
The artist's grandfather had hoped to find better opportunities in America.

They took all the money he made in his life
Immigrants often give all their earnings to support their families back home.

My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees
The singer's siblings worked the orchards just like many other immigrants.

And they rode the truck till they took down and died
Immigrants worked long hours for little pay and faced dangerous work conditions that often led to death.

Good-bye to my Juan, good-bye Rosalita
A farewell to friends and fellow immigrants who have been deported.

Adios mis amigos, Jesus why Maris
Another farewell to dear friends who have been deported.

You won't have a name when you ride the big air-plane
Immigrants are stripped of their identity and humanity when they are deported.

And all they will call you will be deportees.
Deported immigrants are reduced to a label that strips them of their humanity and individuality.

Some of us are illegal, and others not wanted
Immigrants may not have proper documentation, or they are not needed anymore by their employers.

Our work contract's out and we have to move on
Immigrants are often disposable and not valued as long-term employees.

But it's six hundred miles to that Mexican border
The distance and dangers of the journey back home are extensive.

They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.
Immigrants are treated like criminals when they are just trying to make a living.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts
Immigrants often face life-threatening conditions while working in treacherous environments.

We died in your valleys and died on your plains
Immigrants died while contributing to America's agricultural industry, but there is no recognition of their sacrifice.

We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Immigrants suffered and died while doing the hard work of harvesting America's crops.

Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
Immigrants face danger and discrimination on both sides of the border.

A sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos canyon
A plane carrying undocumented immigrants crashed, and many people died in the fire.

Like a fireball of lightning, it shook all our hills
The tragedy caused by the plane crash affected the entire community deeply.

Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The immigrants who died in the plane crash were just like family to their fellow migrant workers.

The radio says they are just deportees.
The media does not recognize the humanity of the immigrants who died; they are just labeled as deportees.

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
The singer questions the inhumane treatment of immigrants in the United States just to produce fruit.

Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
The singer continues to question the morals behind the treatment of immigrant labor in the agricultural industry.

To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
Immigrants work hard, contribute to the economy, but are treated as disposable and expendable.

And be called by no name except deportees?
Immigrants are stripped of their identity, and their sacrifices are unrecognized when they are labeled as deportees.