Two contrasting scenarios come to mind when discussing the evolution of Mexican migration across the U.S.-Mexico Border. The first scenario is of the U.S.- Mexico border during the 1940’s. It is a barren, empty land, plentiful in dirt and cactus, there is no military or border patrol, only people crossing obliviously back and forth across a small chain-linked fence, the supposed delineation and separator of the two countries. Jump forward 50 years to the 1990’s and the scenario becomes much more bleak. The violence and separation between the two countries becomes palpable in the 10-foot cement wall, militarization of border patrol, and culture of surveillance. People no longer cross freely across the divide, but rather are poked, prodded and dehumanized in their efforts. In a matter of 50 years the U.S.-Mexico border region has changed drastically. What factors have caused this change, what events or programs have been results of the change?
The relationship between the United States and Mexico has always been one of turmoil, hardship and delicate interactions. They are two separate countries, once sharing the same land, and in many instances the same people. The scenarios described above are not isolated instances, but comment on a larger scale transformation that happened over a relatively short period of time. In less than half a century the border between the two countries went from being a region with little violence, surveillance, and was of little political importance. Today the border and migration are at the forefront of every political debate and is infested with Border Patrol and Customs agents. The intense militarization of the border has made it increasingly dangerous to cross, thwarting the traditional process of commuter migration where people live on one side of the border, but work on the other. With the traditional migration patterns prevented, more and more migrants are staying in the United States. In 1942, with a lack of a work force due to WWII, U.S. and Mexico entered into the first authorized agreement that contracted Mexican workers to migrate to the U.S. and work in fields and farms for a period of time. The Bracero Program was the first major migratory push towards the United States in the 20th century. The end of the Bracero Program in 1964 left hundreds and thousands of Mexican workers jobless, and American farmers employee-less. The demand for a cheap labor force and lack of jobs in Mexico caused unauthorized migration to the U.S. to skyrocket. Many scholars from both the United States and Mexico have discussed the change in migration patters, the effect of those changes on the U.S.-Mexico border, and migration policy. Scholar’s disciplines range from sociological and anthropological studies to more empirical geographical studies that survey land, space and population. Some of the most notable scholars who have written on migration patterns from Mexico include Douglass Massey, Jorge Durand, Manuel Garcia y Griego, and Katherine Donato.
In the study, “The Changing Geography of Mexican Immigration to the United States: 1910-1996” sociologist Douglass Massey and anthropologist Jorge Durand use micro-data samples from 1910 and population surveys from the 1990’s to describe the trends in geographic destinations of Mexican migrants.They found that before 1910, most Mexican migrants went to Texas, but with the escalation of the Bracero Program in the 1940s, California surpassed Texas as the top destination. In the 1990s it became clear the Mexican migration to the U.S. was no longer a regional phenomenon, but rather international as migrants were increasingly arriving in states apart from the five traditional “gateway” states (Massey and Durand, 1) The study stresses that clear patterns of migration from Mexico to the U.S. that can be traced geographically through population surveys and census data. These patterns, they argue, are integral to understanding modern day migration trends. Manuel Garcia y Griego approaches the subject of Mexican migration from a Mexican perspective. In his article, “Responses to Migration: The Bracero Program” he looks specifically at Mexico’s response to Migration and the Bracero Program. He, like Massey and Durand, argues that there have been clear periods in Mexican migration since the beginning of the 20th century. Instead of looking at U.S. Census data, he uses letters from Mexican ambassadors and several Mexican executive orders to display Mexico’s response to the changing atmosphere of migration to the U.S.( Garcia y Griego, 1214). Garcia y Griego’s essay looks specifically at the Bracero Program, from its establishment in 1942, its many amendements throughout the 1950’s, and to the program’s final termination in 1964. He argues that the era of the Bracero Program has been the only period in which both countries managed labor migration between their countries (Garcia y Griego, 1215) Katherine Donato’s study, “U.S. Policy and Mexican Migration to the United States, 1942-92” looked at how the trends among migrant “cohorts” corresponds with U.S. Immigration policy. By looking specifically at 17 different case studies, she found three patterns of migration. The first starting with the conception of the Bracero Program, the second beginning at the end of the Bracero program and the final trend beginning in the late 1970’s when unauthorized migration of both men and women soared. Donato’s study brings a gendered perspective of migration as she also looks at the migration pattern for women and children, not just the traditional agricultural worker migrant. Migration back and forth between Mexico and the United States has long been a tradition of sorts. Before there were 10-foot cement walls, watchtowers, and swarms of armed border patrol agents; there was a general indifference towards the border. People from the United States and Mexico crossed freely into both countries without fear of death, deportation of getting separated from family members. The research mentioned above has dominated the historiography of Mexican migration to the U.S. While empirical geographical studies, studies from the Mexican perspective and studies that focus on the beginning of the Bracero program are necessary to have an interdisciplinary perspective on the increase in Mexican migration since the 1940’s. Sources: Donato, Katherine. "U.S. Policy and Mexican Migration to the United States, 1942-1992". Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 4 (December 1994), 705-729. Douglass Massey, Jorge Durand. “The Changing Geography of Mexican Immigration to the United States: 1910-1996”. Social Science Quarterly Vol. 81 Number 1, March 2000. Manuel Garcia y Griego, “Responses to Migration: The Bracero Program”
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In order to understand exactly how Mexican migration patterns changed after the termination of the Bracero Program in 1964 I look at the journey of one Bracero worker, Juan Loza, and his time as a contracted Bracero worker. During his time as a Bracero, from 1957-1964, Juan was contracted three separate times, traveling from his home in Guanajuato, Mexico to Texas, California, Arkansas and Wisconsin.
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AuthorI am a history graduate student at the University of Arizona. I study 20th century Mexico, with an emphasis on migration and the border region. This blog is the product of a semester long project that looked at migration patterns between Mexico and the U.S. after the termination of the Bracero Program in 1964. ALL DATA VISUALIZATIONS AND INFO-GRAPHICS WERE CREATED BY CLEA CONLIN. DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM AUTHOR. ArchivesCategories |