"Self-deportation," a term popularized in the 2012 presidential election, has resurfaced in the current Republican primary race. Through the immigration policy, the government would pressure undocumented workers to self-deport by making immigrants miserable in the U.S., compelling them to return to their home countries. 

Mitt Romney Supported Self-Deportation

After suffering a huge loss in the 2012 presidential election, the Republican Party realized that they needed to make major changes in order to become more inviting and inclusive of minority groups. It also became clear to many political pundits on both sides of the aisle that the party needed to increase its outreach effort to Latinos after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost the Latino vote by more than 40 points on Election Day.

Today, it seems as if the GOP has forgotten the power of the Latino vote. Instead of advocating for policies that welcome diversity and appeal to Latinos, Republican candidates have centered their campaigns on anti-immigrant rhetoric and fear mongering. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has called for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, mass deportation of undocumented residents and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

Ironically, his campaign platform on immigration reform is much different than the sentiment he expressed four years ago when the GOP was undergoing a branding crisis. Back in 2012, Trump criticized Romney for his immigration rhetoric, saying he lost the election because of his emphasis on self-deportation.

Self-Deportation Concept Returns

The derogatory term resurfaced last week, when Marco Rubio recalled Trump's critique of self-deportation at the last GOP primary debate, accusing the real estate mogul of being soft on immigration.

"In 2012, Donald criticized Mitt Romney, saying that Mitt lost his election because of self-deportation," said Rubio at the debate. "My point that I made was you had criticized Mitt Romney for self-deportation. You said that his strategy of self- deportation is why he lost the election."

He added, "I agree we should have won and I wished we would have, but, in fact, you did criticize him for using the term 'self-deportation.' I mean, that's on the record and people can look it up right now online."

In turn, Trump denied that his statements on self-deportation imply that he was once soft on immigration. He also insisted that he merely criticized Romney for losing the election, not for his immigration policy specifically.

"I criticized Mitt Romney for losing that election. He should have won that election," Trump said at the debate. "[Romney] ran a terrible campaign. ... He was a terrible candidate. That's what I criticized Mitt Romney [for]. He ran one terrible campaign! That's an election that should have been won."

The former reality TV star also reiterated his hard line stance on immigration. He said, "Self-deportations are going to leave as soon as they see others going out. That's the way I define it. You're going to get some to go and the rest will follow."

Origins of Self-Deportation

Oddly, many believe that the term originated as a joke made by two Mexican-American satirists in the 1990s. In 1994, Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul decided to speak out against Proposition 187, a ballot initiative in California that aimed to prohibit undocumented immigrants from using state-run hospitals and schools, The New York Times reported. The comedians made fun of the proposal by pretending to be conservative activists who supported the measure.

However, over time, the Republican party adopted the joke as a simple and cruel alternative to forcefully rounding up millions of people.