A Growing Community
Mexican immigration
in the 20th century came in three great surges of growth. The
first surge began in the 1900s. Revolution in Mexico and a strong
U.S. economy brought a tremendous increase in Mexican immigration
rates. Between 1910 and 1930, the number of Mexican immigrants
counted by the U.S. census tripled from 200,000 to 600,000. The
actual number was probably far greater. El Paso, Texas, served
as the Mexican Ellis Island--a gateway to a different life for
Mexican immigrants and a powerful symbol of change and survival
for their children and grandchildren.
For many
Mexican immigrants, moving to the U.S. was not necessarily a one-time
journey of permanent relocation. Since the distance was so short,
Mexican citizens could return home relatively easily, and many
did so--because of improved conditions in Mexico, because of family
concerns, or because they had earned enough money to live more
comfortably. In the 1910s and 1920s, it is estimated that more
than 1 million Mexican immigrants returned to Mexico.
In the end,
though, we can't know for certain exactly how much immigration
from Mexico occurred during this period. Because of the length
and openness of the U.S.-Mexican border, a great deal of immigration
took place outside of legal channels. Undocumented immigrants
tended to live on the margins of society and were especially vulnerable
to exploitation by unscrupulous employers, or by the coyotes,
or guides, who smuggled them across the border. The lack of documentation
also makes it impossible for us to know exactly how great this
surge of immigration really was. |