[202][203] Some scholars contend that the unprecedented number of repatriations between 1929 and 1933 were part of an “explicit Hoover administration policy".[202] While supported and encouraged by the federal government, most deportations and repatriations were organized by local and state governments, often with support from local private entities. Voluntary repatriation was far more common than formal deportation, with 34,000 people deported to Mexico by the federal government between 1930 and 1933.[202][204] According to legal professor Kevin R. Johnson, the repatriation campaigns were a form of  ethnic cleansing against an ethnic minority.[205]
He reorganized the Bureau of Indian Affairs to limit exploitation of Native Americans.[206]

Prohibition
On taking office, Hoover urged Americans to obey the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act, which had established Prohibition across the United States.[207] To make public policy recommendations regarding Prohibition, he created the Wickersham Commission.[208] Hoover had hoped that the commission's public report would buttress his stance in favor of Prohibition, but the report criticized the enforcement of the Volstead Act and noted the growing public opposition to Prohibition. 