There has always been migration between Mexico and the US, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that Mexican immigration into the US took off. Increased labor demands in the US, as well as political unrest in Mexico created a reason for US immigration. Furthermore, there were many US immigration reforms that created periods of mass immigration.
Phases of Mexican immigration
There are four main phases of Mexican migration: phase one took place in the early 1900’s, phase two took place in the mid 1900’s, phase three took place in the late 1900’s and phase four is currently in progress, and started at the end of the 20th century.
Phase one |
The first phase of Mexican immigration into the US took place before World War II. Looking for cheap labor, private industry recruited Mexicans for agricultural work. In this period, the number of immigrants rose drastically from about 100,000 in 1900 to almost 650,000 in 1930.1
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Phase two |
The second phase of Mexican immigration took place with the Bracero program in the mid 1900’s. Between 1942 and 1964 the Bracero program was in effect. Faced with labor shortages, especially in the agricultural sector, the US government worked with the Mexican government to bring in Mexican nationals for temporary employment.
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Phase three |
The third phase of Mexican immigration took place with the termination of the Bracero program. This was the first period that was mostly illegal. Where the government had been authorizing previous immigrations, changes to US immigration policy put limits on immigration.2 This created a period where immigrants were mostly male agricultural workers.
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Phase Four |
The fourth phase of Mexican immigration started in 1986 with the passing of the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The US legalized almost 3 million undocumented immigrants and strengthened border enforcement as well as created tougher laws for businesses that hired illegal immigrants. However, rather than slowing down immigration, these laws caused immigrants to settle in the US more permanently, rather than crossing the border to go home. This created an influx of immigration where entire families migrated into the US. “Between 1990 and 2010, more than 7.5 million Mexican immigrants arrived in the USA”.3 Currently, migration is slowing down, possibly marking the end of the fourth period.
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The DECISION to Immigrate into the USA
US IntegrationThe majority of immigrants do not integrate into US culture and society very easily. After living in the US, nearly half of all immigrants cannot read or write in English and only 15% claim to be proficient in English comprehension. Proficient literacy rates are lower, however.4 Furthermore, very low involvement in community or civil organizations hampers growth and integration.
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Current Trends in immigration
Mexican immigration has gone through many changes in the past few years. Since the Great Recession of 2008, Mexican immigration has been slowing down each year. Furthermore, production prices are increasing in China. Increased wages as well as transportation costs are increasing overall costs and pushing some production outside of China. Production is entering Mexico again and causing the economy to grow rapidly. Because of that, as well as a decreased crime rate in Mexico, people are immigrating into Mexico from both the US and foreign countries, as well as returning back home at unprecedented rates. "Mexican migration to the United States has reached an equilibrium, with about as many Mexicans moving north from 2005 to 2010 as those returning south.5" While news and politics still paint immigration as a large US problem, it is actually declining by itself as more and more Mexicans return home where prospects are ameliorated.
Guiding questions
- Is there a gap between US news and actual facts in relation to US immigration?
- What kind of picture does US news paint?
- What kind of picture do actual stats paint?
- What kind of picture does US news paint?
- What kind of picture do actual stats paint?
1. Zong, Jie and Batalova, Jeanna, Mexican Immigrants in the US.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. The US/Mexico Cycle.
5. Cave, Damien, For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. The US/Mexico Cycle.
5. Cave, Damien, For Migrants, New Land of Opportunity Is Mexico.