Some History of Mexican Immigration
One of the most prominent immigrant groups in the United States are Mexicans. When you think of an immigrant, you immediately think of a person with dark skin, dark hair, and a short in stature…Oh come on, let’s say it, you think of a Mexican. No, you are not being biased; you are only being influenced by what you see. Mexicans are present everywhere, whether they have legal documents or not. In fact, Mexicans constitute the majority of Latinos living in the United States and they continue to be one of the largest groups moving to the United States nowadays. According to Evelyn H. Cruz and Sean Carpenter in their essay “We Want You When We Need You, Otherwise Get Out: The Historical Struggle of Mexican Immigrants to Obtain Lawful Permanent Residency in The United States,” Mexicans have a very unique immigration history given that Mexico borders the United States and given that several states that now belong to the United States used to be Mexican territory.
In the same essay, Cruz and Carpenter explain that after the Mexican-American war, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Hidalgo in 1848, and under this treaty, Mexicans residing in the Mexican lands surrendered to the United States were given the option to remain and become United States citizens, remain in the United States but continue to carry the Mexican citizenship, or to go down to Mexico. When these people didn’t choose either option within a year of the treaty, they were automatically given the status of U.S. Citizens. Then in 1853 during the Gadsden Purchase, where additional land in the Southwest was negotiated, a similar provision was included. For many years, the doors between the two countries were open allowing migration to the United States side of the border. Some Mexicans established themselves in this side of the border without having to think about their immigration status. Others used to come temporarily to work in the agricultural and mining industries, and then returned to the Mexican side.
During many years there were no means to establish lawful admission to the United States; therefore, Mexicans kept coming and going as they had families on both sides of the border making the southern part of the United States and the northern part of Mexico a union. Since there were no signs that indicated where each country started or any border enforcements that prevented them from going from one country to the other, Mexicans felt free to cross whenever they wanted. The authors state: “[T]he U.S. - Mexico treaties not only created lawful Mexican immigrants, they created a large newly minted American citizenry of Mexican descent.”
It wasn’t until 1910 that the first fence between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico was erected, and that was the point where illegal immigration from Mexico started to become a concern to the United States.
Reference: Evelyn Haydee Cruz. SSRN Working Paper Series. Rochester: Mar 2011.
