During the fourth GOP presidential debate, Donald Trump compared his mass deportation proposal to former President Dwight Eisenhower's mass deportation plan -- known as "Operation Wetback."

Trump reiterated his plan to "humanely" deport 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. Fellow Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and John Kasich questioned Trump's plan

"We all know you can't pick them up and ship them back across the border. It's a silly argument. It's not an adult argument. It makes no sense," said Kasich, governor of Ohio.

"Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower. Good president," Trump said.

"Great president. People liked him. I liked him. I Like Ike, right? The expression, 'I like Ike.' Moved a million and a half illegal immigrants out of this country. Moved them just beyond the border, they came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south, they never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer, you don't get friendlier. They moved a million and a half people out. We have no choice. We have no choice."

Eisenhower's deportation plan was coined "Operation Wetback," which gathered undocumented immigrants and drove them to Mexico.

According to the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), "Operation Wetback," a disparaging term for Mexican immigrants, was the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) repatriation project to remove the aforementioned migrants in July 1954. The mission, which included cooperation from municipal, county, state and federal authorities, was to discourage reentry into the U.S. Migrants were moved further into Mexico.

The first day of "Operation Wetback" apprehended 4,800 immigrants. Consequent daily totals averaged nearly 1,100 immigrant apprehensions per day. While most immigrants were sent back to Mexico on buses and trucks, ships were "a preferred mode of transport because they carried the Mexican workers farther away from the border than did buses, trucks, or trains," according to TSHA. The boat methods continued until seven immigrants drowned, which provoked a mutiny and public outcry in Mexico.

INS believed many immigrants self-deported to avoid law enforcement from finding them.

During an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor," Trump spoke about the operation. He said, "I've heard it both ways, I've heard good reports, I've heard bad reports. We would do it in a very humane way." Trump, however, alluded he would not use the term "wetback," stating, "I don't like term at all."

On MSNBC, Trump reiterated that his mass deportation plan will be conducted "humanely."

"You're going to have a deportation force, and you're going to do it humanely," Trump told MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

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