Host Mitch Jeserich recounts the story of a protest known as the “Bath Riots.”

The riots are known to have been started by Carmelita Torres and lasted from January 28 to January 30 and were sparked by new immigration policies at the El Paso–Juárez Immigration and Naturalization Service office, requiring Mexicans crossing the border to take de-lousing baths. Carmelita Torres who crossed the border daily from Juarez to clean houses in El Paso. She refused to take a toxic disinfectant bath. Press accounts estimated that, by noon, she was joined by several thousand demonstrators at the border bridge. When others saw their resistance they joined in by protesting as well. Within an hour, there were more than 200 women blocking the entrance to El Paso. By the end of the demonstration, there were several thousand protesters. Once the officers tried to break up the crowd, the demonstrators threw rocks at them. They laid in front of trains and vehicles. When police aimed their guns into the crowd, they responded by yelling louder. The police were unable to break them up and she was arrested. After her arrest, she went missing. Until this day, it is not known what happened to her (Wikipedia).

Photo: El Paso disinfection station and Mexicans waiting to be de-loused at the international bridge at the US immigration station on Wikipedia

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