[342]

Mexicans
The Mexican Repatriation policies that began under Hoover as a result of the Great Depression continued with Roosevelt as president. During the 1930s, between 355,000 and one million Mexicans and Mexican Americans were repatriated or deported to Mexico; an estimated forty to sixty percent of whom were birthright citizens – overwhelmingly children.[343][344][345] While supported by the federal government, actual deportations and repatriations were mostly organized and encouraged by city and state governments, often with support from local private entities. Voluntary repatriation was far more common than formal deportation. The rate of repatriations fell for all immigrants, especially for Mexicans, after Roosevelt became president, who also instituted more lenient policies towards immigrants, especially for well-settled ones. The rate of repatriation to Mexico fell dramatically by 50%. The vast majority of formal deportations during the 1930s occurred during Hoover's presidency.[344][343]

Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune, a member of Roosevelt's Black Cabinet (a key advisory group on race relations)
Lynching
Roosevelt stopped short of joining NAACP leaders in pushing for federal anti-lynching legislation, as he believed that such legislation was unlikely to pass and that his support for it would alienate Southern congressmen. 