Please only use sources listed.
https://www.pbssocal.org/programs/latino-americans/latino-americans-los-angeles-deportation/
Between 1910 and 1920, over 200,000 Mexicans from the Mexican side of the newly emerging border migrated into the United States, doubling the Spanish-speaking population in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and quadrupling it in California. There are reasons for this migration from Mexico to the United States and they are called push and pull factors. Push factors are those that encouraged Mexicans to migrate out of Mexico and into the United States. Historically, the United States has encouraged migration through recruitment campaigns and by creating economic instability in Mexico (More about this later). Pull factors are those that recruited Mexicans across the emerging border with promises of paid work for contributing to the creation of the United States. By the 1930s, this group and their children, as well as Mexican Americans who had been here for generations confronted a widespread forced deportation campaign erroneously called, “Repatriation.”
Changing Landscapes and the Push and Pull factors of Mexican Immigration in Early 20th Century
Several factors contributed to this growth in migration from Mexico into the United States in the early twentieth century. The changing economy in the southwestern United States from ranches to large-scale agribusiness, mining, factory, and the railroad systems demanded laborers and the United States recruited heavily from Mexico. This creates a pull into the United States from Mexico. On the home front, the need for Mexican immigrant labor multiplied as WWI cut off the supply of immigrant labor from European countries and the United States heavily recruited from Mexico to meet the wartime labor shortages. Mexican Americans also participated in World War I (1914-1918) as U.S. soldiers and faced widespread discrimination in the military despite their loyalty to nation and willingness to fight and die for the United States on a global stage. Additionally, migrating Mexicans were fleeing the violence escalating in Mexico after decades of rule by Porfirio Diaz exploded into civil war over election fraud in 1910. This violence of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), from the Porfiriato, pushed many Mexicans into the United States, seeking a refuge. It should also be noted, the particular violence many Mexicans encountered in places like Texas also sent many Mexican Americans into the Mexican war zones that others were fleeing. That should tell us something about the level of violence Mexicans and Mexican Americans confronted in Texas, specifically. Much of this violence, was at the hands of a growing state-sanctioned militia group called the Texas Rangers that you should have learned about in our Module work last week.
Despite the time and labor poured into building this nation, Mexican Americans were blamed for the economic crisis in the 1930s and the United States targeted this group for deportation in a very expensive hate campaign, regardless of time spent in the United States.
The Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Americans and Unconstitutional Deportation in the 1930s
The Great Depression occurred in the 1930s and followed an era of prosperity based on the exploitation of labor in large scale agriculture, mines, and factories. As explained above, Mexicans were heavily recruited into the United States during the early 20th century to meet the needs of a changing economy. In the 1930s, this group was blamed for the social and economic ills of society and many were deported through a program called, “Repatriation.” Historically, ethnic groups are scapegoated in order to distract the masses from the failures of the nation to meet the needs of the people. Historians of Mexican Americans in the 1930s refer to this era as the “Decade of Betrayal,” a time in which Mexicans and Mexican Americans, specifically, were scapegoated, or blamed, for all the ills of society, demonized in the media, coerced, threatened, intimidated, rounded up, and deported to Mexico in a very costly campaign called “Repatriation.”
Please watch the following clips to supplement your understanding of this historical moment that specifically targeted Mexicans and Mexican Americans through visible appearance, cultural practices, neighborhood, and surname. The places that relied on Mexicans and Mexican Americans to build their infrastructure during the 1910s and 1920s, targeted those same people and their children in the 1930s and painted them as the reason for the struggles of the Great Depression. Many children were born in the United States, and therefore, natural born citizens. Often, children were given the “choice” to leave the country with their parents or enter into the foster care system.
The following videos contain testimonies from people who experienced this moment as children–a testimony to the reality of these events as living histories. These are not distant and detached stories. We still live with the people who experienced this past. Listen to the elders around you. They have stories to tell but have been taught that they do not matter and that they are markers of shame. On the contrary, these stories point to moments of courage, resilience, and creative survival in the context of widespread systemic oppression. We need to understand these stories more than ever.
Draw from the sources on this page to describe the “Repatriation” campaign of the 1930s and explain why it was unconstitutional (You may find and use additional sources too). Please note: Do not state that Mexican Americans were “sent back to Mexico.” Many had never lived in Mexico and had deep ties in the United States. Think critically about what you have learned.
Given what you learned from the sources on this page, how did the Repatriation campaign affect the daily lives of Mexican Americans in the 1930s and their sense of belonging in the United States?
Lastly, what things would remain undone if you were rounded up and illegally deported today (a real concern for many who currently live with and intimately understand what it feels like to be simultaneously needed by society and targeted for deportation). Imagine you had to leave everything behind today, right now, and were deported. Rather than where you would end up or what you believe about other places and people, your task is to think and write about what would remain left behind and undone in your life here because of your sudden removal in this moment (this very moment). Please note: This is not an invitation to share any anti-immigrant ideas that you may have carried with you into this class. This prompt is a chance to demonstrate your thoughtful engagement with historical thinking and willingness to consider what scapegoating and forced deportation felt like from the perspective of those who experienced the brunt of it in the 1930s.
Be sure to respond to the initial posts created by at least two peers and make efforts to reply to those who respond to your posts.
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