By: Avery Wu
Post #10
6/16/23
When and How It All Began
Mexican emigration was not prevalent in the United States until the construction of the railroads turned into jobs with higher wages. With the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol in 1924, immigration to the US started to become more strict and more Mexicans were deported. But, during the Great Depression (1929-1939), the deportation of Mexicans and even Mexican Americans started to increase with some sources saying upwards of hundreds of thousands to millions. The U.S. was able to deport so many Mexicans because of the Mexican Repatriation policy signed by President Herbert Hoover. He was attempting at freeing up more jobs for Americans because many could barely make ends meet. However, most Mexicans voluntary decided to return to Mexico, with encouragement from the government, in hopes of escaping the Great Depression.
The deportations started to slow drastically when President Franklin Roosevelt took office and implemented more lenient laws against Mexican immigrants, even ones who were there illegally. In 1942, the U.S. and Mexico jointly created the bracero, or laborer, program, which encouraged Mexicans to come to the U.S. as contract workers. These contract workers worked in and lived in filthy conditions because most Americans refused to. With the influx of migrant workers in the 1940's, large numbers of deportations followed in the 1950's with close to 4 million deported Mexicans.
With rapid growth in the 1970's and 1980's, Mexico became the top country of origin for U.S. immigrants. Over the years, an increasing share of Mexican migrants to the U.S. became permanent residents with year-round jobs in a broader range of sectors than agriculture. Sixty percent of all Mexican immigrants can now be found in California or Texas because of the agricultural opportunities.
Immigration Under the Trump & Biden Administration
Trump Administration
Previous immigration policies and laws under President Trump were ruthless and very strict. One of his main campaign talking points was about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants. Many hardcore supporters also heavily supported his views while others saw this as absurd and a waste of money. Instead, President Trump created the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in 2019 to force certain asylum seekers to wait out their U.S. immigration court cases in Mexico with little or no access to legal counsel. Because of an additional policy Trump implemented, Title 42, Border patrol officers now had to authority to reject arriving migrants and asylum seekers without a screening. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Trump closed all U.S. borders and suspended all screenings and hearings which left thousands of waiting immigrants left in Mexico for years.
Biden Administration
President Biden on the other hand pledged to get rid of Trump's MPP policy and Title 42 because these programs were unlawful and unethical. In June 2021, he ended the MPP Program, but not without major backlash from states like Texas and Missouri. With the termination in Title 42 on May 11th, many individuals were expecting to see a flood of immigrants attempt to cross the border and seek asylum. Biden's whole approach when it came to managing the border was to create and encourage more legal ways immigrants could become citizens while deterring the illegal border hopping. "The administration finalized a rule that will disqualify migrants from asylum if they enter the U.S. without permission after failing to seek protection in a third country, like Mexico, en route to American soil. Migrants subjected to this policy will face deportation and a five-year banishment from the U.S." (CBS News). With this new law being in place for only a couple of months, many are still waiting to see what the outcome will be.
Comments