Maria Mejia

HISTRY 110-01

Mexican Migrants

In A time of troubles: Mexican America, 1920-50 the author states that by

1924 the United States immigration laws were stablished for people coming to the
U.S. from many parts of the work but no laws were by that time stablished for
people migrating from the Western Hemisphere to the United States. Evidence
shows that by that time, a high number of immigrants were coming from East to
West, thus directing the attention of U.S. immigration authorities to the main port of
entry that was New York City. Therefore they left a free and accessible port of
entrance for western immigrants.

Back in that time, Mexicans considered the United States as an opportunity to

improve their lot which was a similar thinking of the European immigrants when
they decide to come to the U.S. But Mexicans, unlike European immigrants, had no
restrictions to enter the country as the author states when he says that they had
entered the United States with no questions asked. Another reason that influenced
Mexicans to migrate north was to just get a job even with a low pay. This important
and transcendent part of the history of Mexican migrations was showed in the
movie My Family Jose was the father of the family that came walking to the United
States, specifically to Los Angeles California in 1926.

Another important fact shown in the movie My Familywas the

consequences that the Great depression brought for the U.S. especially for
Mexicans, in the movie we can see that in 1933 Maria, the mother of the family, was
caught by La Migra and sent back to Mexico. Since Mexicans and Mexican
Americans were willing to work doing anything and getting pay for almost nothing,
they became in one of the most important sources of labor around the United
States. But, as the author states, from 1929 to 1941 the Great Depression came to
elevate the unemployment rate up to a twenty percent and wages decreased from
thirty-five cents an hour to fifteen cents an hour. As a consequence of this
Depression during 1930s a movement demanded that Mexicans and Mexican
Americans had to be sent to Mexico because they did not have the right to take the
few jobs that were left during the crisis. Subsequently during the 1930s around half
million Mexicans or people that looked Mexican were deported for the United States.
This shows that as like Europeans, Mexican were also discriminated by the original
Americans and treated unfairly.

After the unfair deportation against Mexicans, in 1947 during War World II
Americans men and women were sent to fight in the war leaving the United States
without workers. Therefore 1942 The Bracero Program was created and consisted in
bringing back Mexican workers to be hired to work seasonally or for a year in
agriculture in the United States. The program also allowed deported Mexican
Americans to come back to where once was their home. The idea of having an
opportunity to come back home and be able to have a job was not so great,
because Mexican workers were mistreated in many ways by employers. In
November of 1946 since the World War II was over, the Bracero Program was ended
by the U.S. government.