Guiding Questions:
What are the similarities and differences between the two perspectives?
How do the different perspectives compare to the today? Have they changed? Are they similar?
Are there any sunrises to the number of immigrants coming into the US?
Why do you think Americans' fear that immigrants especially from Mexico are coming to the US to take jobs?
Why do majority of people think of Mexicans when thinking of immigrants?
What are the similarities and differences between the two perspectives?
How do the different perspectives compare to the today? Have they changed? Are they similar?
Are there any sunrises to the number of immigrants coming into the US?
Why do you think Americans' fear that immigrants especially from Mexico are coming to the US to take jobs?
Why do majority of people think of Mexicans when thinking of immigrants?
U.s. Perspective
The 1920s had seen unprecedented levels of Mexican immigration to the U.S., with large numbers of young men who looked for American wages, but intended to go back to their country.[1] The numbers were greater in the 1920s than in the 1930s. In 1930, thousands of Mexican immigrants and American-born people of Mexican origin left the U.S., crossing the border into Mexico. This was viewed more as an expulsion and a critical turning point in Mexican-American demography.[2] In the 1930s, circular migration collapsed, as many more Mexican immigrants left the U.S. than entered, but a guest worker program in the 1940s revived the pattern.[3] Americans however, perceived the most recent arrivals, Mexicans, as especially culpable for competing for jobs and relying on welfare, and they began targets of focused antagonism.[4] Repatriation campaigns urging Mexicans to go back to Mexico appears in a variety of locales, and they were the only immigrant-origin group so targeted.[5] Then in 1980, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, The Tarnished Golden Door: Civil Rights Issues in Immigration, offered its view ‘Federal immigration officials expelled hundreds of thousands of persons of Mexican descent from this country...Approximately 500,000 persons were ‘repatriated’ to Mexico, with more than half of them being United States citizens.’
By the mid-1920s, their presence became more evident, hostility toward Mexicans rose, taking on a racial tone.[6]
Times Magazine Special issue (Primary Source)
The Special Issue Time magazine is an example of how American point of view in 1993 was worried for the future with the large increase. It is important to note the issue was to bring attention to the growing population with different races that have come to the U.S.. This article notes the faults in the immigration system and does not focus on Latinos only because they are not the only people coming into the U.S.. With the large increase of immigrants coming to the U.S. the struggle for acceptance became a great issue. “Immigrant population grew by more than 11 million people in the 1990s, the highest increase in history, according to Census 2000 data.”[7] Many people started to question the future of America. For example Steve Murdock, director of the Texas State Data Center at Texas A&M University said, “I think we need to recognize that our population needs to be internationalized as our economy is internationalized.”[8] His statement is one that is very debated and is still debated today. During that time more than one out of 10 people living in the country were foreign born and more than half of those immigrants come from Latin America. In 1965, when congress passed legislation to open the nation's borders, immigrants have largely hailed from Latin America and Asia. Click here to look at charts that show the immigrant levels in the U.S.
Statistics
The images bellow include
polls TIME magazine conducted in 1993 regarding the increase of immigrants. It
has polls that include where people believe the immigrants are coming from to if
the presence of illegal aliens affect them.
Mexican Perspective
Most Mexicans have a different view: going to El Norte to work is an accepted part of life and local culture, in some cases generations old. There is clearly a need for Mexican labor in the United States — otherwise how would so many find employment there? And, if the U.S. Government — which is generally seen as omnipotent — were truly serious about keeping illegal aliens out, it would only have to punish the employers who make the flow northwards so attractive. It does not do so, therefore, it is not serious. [9] Click here to go in more depth on the Mexican perspective.
Footnotes:
[1] Gratton, Brian, and Emily Merchant. "Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950." Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950. Accessed April 28, 2015.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] "U.S. Saw Biggest Immigration Rise in History in '90s." U.S. Saw Biggest Immigration Rise in History in '90s. Accessed April 24, 2015.
[8] Ibid
[9] "Immigration, the United States and Mexico." Immigration, the United States and Mexico. Accessed April 24, 2015.
Citation for Mexican Polls: Camarota, Steven. "Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration: Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes." Center for Immigration Studies. October 1, 2009. Accessed April 23, 2015.
Citation for Time Magazine: Nelan, Bruce. "Not Quite So Welcome Anymore." Time. December 2, 1993. Accessed April 28, 2015.
Article: Gratton, B., & Merchant, E. (n.d.). Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
[1] Gratton, Brian, and Emily Merchant. "Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950." Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950. Accessed April 28, 2015.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] "U.S. Saw Biggest Immigration Rise in History in '90s." U.S. Saw Biggest Immigration Rise in History in '90s. Accessed April 24, 2015.
[8] Ibid
[9] "Immigration, the United States and Mexico." Immigration, the United States and Mexico. Accessed April 24, 2015.
Citation for Mexican Polls: Camarota, Steven. "Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration: Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes." Center for Immigration Studies. October 1, 2009. Accessed April 23, 2015.
Citation for Time Magazine: Nelan, Bruce. "Not Quite So Welcome Anymore." Time. December 2, 1993. Accessed April 28, 2015.
Article: Gratton, B., & Merchant, E. (n.d.). Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950. Retrieved April 28, 2015.