Woody Guthrie did sing Deportees on at least one occasion - that was brought up on a thread here one time, but he didn't use the tune we know, which came a lot later.

I doubt if he'd have been thinking of Robert Emmett when he wrote Deportees. Streets of Laredo more likely (which uses a version of the same tune). Someone writing a song will often have a tune running through their head which keeps the lines scanning, even if it's not the tune they end up using.