Mexican Repatriation and its Subsequent Issues

Mexican repatriation involved forceful deportation of Mexicans and Mexicans American from the United States. The enforcers of the deportation branded it as repatriation movement to make it seem that Mexicans and Mexicans Americans were doing so willingly. The federal government pressure to move the families of Mexican origin back to their mother country mainly came from county and city governments. However, claims that all these individuals were Mexican were invalid. This is because more than seventy percent of these individuals were American citizens since they were born in America, and others had intermarried and started families there (Calderon,pg 221, 1998). To coerce these families to move, the federal government embraced use of threats. Some of these were, loss of employment, relief payments cut, imprisonment, and forced deportation.

Signs of depression that occurred in the early 1930s were the main contributing factor that accelerated the need for this repatriation. The labor federation and local governments faced extreme demands to decrease the number of immigrants from Mexico even prior to crash of stock market. When President Hoover appointed William N. Doak as the secretary of labor in 1930, strict raids aiming at identifying individuals to deport started. In that year alone, the government was able to deport more than 80,000 people involuntarily. The basic argument by the federal government behind this vigorous movement of the so-called undocumented migrants was that the American natives would access jobs (Calderon,pg 221, 1998). In addition, due to depression challenges, the expenditure spent on relief food would significantly reduce.

The economic catastrophe the depression created led to underemployment and severe lack of jobs. This affected Mexican and Mexican Americans negatively. Federal government passed legislation that outlawed them from accessing jobs in projects that the central government financed. The aim of this policy was to leave the Mexicans with no choice but to move to their ancestral land (Calderon,pg 221, 1998). Private owned firms and industries motivated by the local and federal governments legislation to coerce the migrants to repatriate, took measures that supported them. Since indigenous Americans who considered themselves superior noble class owned most of them, they adopted policies that barred Mexicans to work in their institutions. This made it next to impossible for both Mexicans and Mexicans Americans to access jobs since there was no distinction to differentiate the two groups. The random raids to identify the immigrants who created job shortages, campaigns by private institutions, and American welfare unions created nervousness and apprehension in the Mexican individuals (Balderrama, pg 3,2006). The repatriation was illegal since Mexicans Americans were legal residents (Florido, pg 1,2015). This is because they had lived in the country for more than two decades and their children were born in the United States.

The repatriation greatly affected the Mexican and Mexican American social welfare since they had to move to new areas where they had no idea of how to survive there. Many of the individuals who repatriated had lived in the country for two and half decades (Florido, pg 1, 2015). The nurture of their children was profoundly rooted in the American education system, culture, and life approach. This meant that these broods were not only Americans by birth but also culturally. The policies that barred the Mexicans descendents from accessing equal job opportunities left them no choice but to move to Mexico. In America, they used to live in urban areas where basic living conditions were easily accessible. However, in the rural setting where they thrust, such comforts did not exist. They had to stroll for long distances in search of water for cooking and washing. This was a major setback in their social setting where they were accustomed to running water at the comfort of their houses. Parents let their children into child manual labor to meet basic needs since the effects of the great depression was also severe in Mexico. Some who were lucky to have well to do relatives back in Mexico relied on them for food and shelter. Education for children who had already started their formal education back in America had to interrupt (Florido, pg 1, 2015). In the remote areas where the Mexican and Mexican Americans deported to, there was no existence of schools. Even in the areas where children could access formal education setbacks always presented themselves. Back in American schools, children used English language. Communication using Spanish invited punishment. However, in Mexico, the available schools used Spanish, which the children had no clue.

Until recently, the controversial exclusion of Mexican Americans has rarely received attention. From the 21st century, laws have been legislated and policies adopted to make sure that the affected groups who survived get compensation. The first political action was in the state of California in 2003. The senate of California conducted open hearings of the affected legal Mexican Americans citizens coerced to live elsewhere and unconstitutionally evicted from America. The hearings created a chance to form a commission to conduct a investigation on the forceful deportation of legal American citizens (Florido, pg 2, 2015). The commission was also to eliminate set suit barriers to make it possible for more survivors who repatriated to submit their suits. In addition, MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) has sued State of California and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in relation to the forceful deportation of legal citizens of Mexican American origin that took place in 1930s.

The inhuman issues and discomforts that Mexican repatriation created have received genuine public awareness from both the affected community and the whole of American humanity. For example in the education system, there is a policy to include the unconstitutional banishment in social studies. The suit and the public hearings that started in California provided an opportunity for radio stations, television and newspapers to cover what really happened. This has enlightened the public and legislative bodies to create and pass policies that ensure no such occurrence of expulsion of legal American citizens happens in future.

Works Cited

Balderrama, Francisco E. Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. University of New Mexico Press, 2006.

Calderon, Roberto R. "Journal of American Ethnic History." (1998): 121-123.

Florido, Adrian. "Mass Deportation May Sound Unlikely, But It's Happened Before." (2015): 1-2.