Immigration & Mexican Americans in the 20th Century
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I. Legacies of Conquest

- 75K Tejanos, Californios, Nuevomexicanos
- "greasers"
- gente decente, limpieza de sangre
- La Raza

II. Growth + Immigration, 1890-1920

- Porfiriato & Mexican Revolution
- 1908, restrictions on Asian immigration (cf. 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act)
- 1917-1924, restrictions on Old World immigration
- 1924, national Border Patrol established

III. The Depression and World War II

- 1929-1939, +/- 1.5 million return to Mexico
- 1942, Emergency Farm Labor Program (the Bracero program)

IV. The Cold War

- 1950, Internal Security Act
- 1952, Immigration and Nationality Act
- 1954, Operation Wetback
- 1965, Bracero Program ends

V. The "Golden Cage"
(See also this US history of immigration acts and of deportations at the border since )

A. 1965, LBJ's Immigration Act

- abolishes quotas by "national origins"
- but quotas on western hemisphere for first time (120K)
- emphasis on family reunification

B. 1986, Reagan's Immigration and Reform Control Act

- enforcement + amnesty

C. 1990, GHWBush's Immigration Act

- legalization + family restrictions
- Diversity Visa Lottery further restricts LA and esp. Mexican immigration

D. 1996, Bill Clinton's Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

- after 180 days, leaving U.S. triggers 3-yr, 10-yr, or permanent bar to reentry
- Congress creates mandatory deportable offenses, suspends habeus corpus

VI. Coda: Recent Trends

- Central America

Guatemala, war 1962-1996

El Salvador, war 1980-1992; L.A. gang members deported 1990s (Rodney King 1992)

Honduras, since 2000

Nicaraguans in Costa Rica