Poverty and its lack of opportunities, a decline in national industries, Mexican dependency on foreign ownership, exploitation of Mexican workers, unequal distribution of land ownership, political instability, the loss and death of millions of Mexican people during the Revolution, and a demand for cheap labor in America forced approximately 10 percent of the Mexican population to flee across the border into the United States between 1910 and 1930.
Mexican immigration since 1900 is one of the great migratory movements in American history. Between 1900 and 1930 more than 1,000,000 Mexicans came into the United States from Mexico. During these two decades, Mexicans made up the greatest number of new immigrants to the United States. Between 1900 and 1990, approximately 2,500,000 Mexican citizens both with documents and many undocumented immigrated into the United States (Meier, 1972, p. 118). In the year 2000, according to the U.S. Census, the number of Hispanic/Latino people living in the United States was 35,305,818 and of that, 20,640,711 were of Mexican descent.
Mexican Immigration to the United States, 1908-1932
Year
Total in the United States
Year
Total in the United States
1908a
5,257
1923
62,709
1909
15,139
1924
87,648
1910
17,760
1925
32,378
1911
18,023
1926
42,638
1912
22,001
1927
66,766
1913
10,954
1928
57,765
1914
13,089
1929
38,980
1915
10,993
1930
11,915
1916
9,832
1931
2,627
1917
16,438
1932b
1,674
a First year for which data by race is given
b Last year for which the author could obtain complete data
Source: Annual Reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration, Fiscal years from July 1, 1907 to June 30, 1932 (Broadbent, 1941, p. 15)
Between 1900 and 1930 approximately 45,000 Mexican individuals came to Colorado. Recruited by immigration agencies, most of them came as immigrant laborers from Eagle Pass, Texas, lured to the area by higher wages. Others traveled north from New Mexico and many came as illegal aliens or "undocumented" immigrants. They found work mainly in the sugar beet fields in the South Platte and Arkansas River Valleys.
In 1928, during the Great Depression, government policies were made to reduce the number of Mexican-American workers in response to the strong view that Mexican-Americans held jobs that "real Americans" should have, even when most "real Americans" did not want these jobs. The Federal government launched deportation drives and repatriation programs that sent many Mexican and Mexican-Americans back to Mexico. In Colorado, Governor Ed. C. Johnson called out the National Guard and proclaimed martial law along the southern boundary of the state and gave orders that all aliens likely to become indigents be turned back. He stated, "If they do not have money or means of support, do not let them pass." However, within a few days the ban was removed.
At the onset of World War II in 1941, labor shortages arose in the United States. In Colorado, the lack of people to work in the fields became critical as over 2,700 to 2,800 men and women reported for duty in the Armed Forces from Weld County alone. At the same time, Japanese immigrants were put into Internment Camps, creating an even larger labor shortage (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 36).
In August of 1942, as a result of the labor shortages, the United States and Mexican governments reached an agreement to encourage Mexican "braceros" to enter the United States under contract (Meier and Ribera, 1972, p. 172). In Colorado, special efforts were made to induce Mexicans to come in for beet season. Arrangements were made by which several thousand "braceros" were brought into Colorado in the spring to work until after the harvest in the late fall, and then return to Mexico.
"Braceros" or "contratodos" were Mexican laborers who were recruited in Mexico and transported across the border by buses and trains into the United States under the auspices of immigration treaties or agreements for seasonal agricultural contract labor. Mexican laborers were allowed to enter the United States legally in order to provide the much needed agricultural labor in the early 1940s, with the provision that they would return to Mexico at the end of the harvest (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 36). Generally, American's welcomed their labor and trade because their work made it possible to fill wartime demands for food (Madsen, 1964, p. 29).
"Braceros" came from a wide range of economic backgrounds. The typical "bracero" was a young, unmarried male who grew up in an isolated rural village in Mexico. He became a 'bracero" because of unemployment or underemployment in his homeland. "Braceros" were willing to come to the United States for extended periods of time and endure long separations form their families and possible hardships for the financial reward of their hand labor (Meier and Ribera, 1972, p. 178).
The terms of the "bracero" program stipulated that the Mexican laborers were to receive a minimum wage. Their employers were to provide them with free round-trip transportation, guaranteed wages, proper housing, and food and healthcare facilities. Over 100,000 "braceros" were sent to various parts of the United States between 1942 and 1947, and between 1951 and 1965 approximately 4,500,000 worked in the United States (Meier and Ribera, 1972, p. 184). Many of the "braceros" were set up in farm labor camps. In northern Colorado, the United States Department of Agriculture had built one of the many labor camps in Fort Lupton. Two hundred and thirty five farm laborers resided there and were employed in farms in Fort Collins, Eaton, Greeley, Longmont and Brighton (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 36).
After World War II, as a whole, "braceros" were not kindly regarded by Americans. Domestic field laborers objected to Mexican nationals working in the United States because they threatened their means of livelihood. Often "braceros" were willing to work for lower salaries than Mexican-American field workers and Mexican-American laborers had to pay for their own transportation and living costs as well as contribute part of their pay to a crew leader. They also did not receive the "braceros" guarantee of employment or any of their fringe benefits.
The "bracero" program did not end with World War II. It was argued that the need for agricultural workers remained acute (Meier and Ribera, 1972, p. 181). The Korean War in the early 1950s further promoted the need for the "bracero" program. By 1958, however controversy and criticism surrounding the program led to a bill in the House of Representatives to phase out "bracero" workers in the United States.
Following World War II, between 1954 and 1958, the United States government expelled over 3.8 million "wetbacks" and "aerialists" to Mexico under the Operation Wetback Program. This program pressured the Mexican who lived and worked illegally in the United States to constantly be on guard against apprehension and deportment by the United States authorities.
Since 1965, the American government has set out to discourage Mexican immigration. The hope to reduce Mexican immigration to the United States has been a vain one. Though the Immigration and Nationality Act limited legal immigration to 120,000 immigrants per year from the Western hemisphere, illegal immigrants continued to slip across the border. In the 1980 census, Mexican-American populations in the South Platte River Valley had increased since 1930, being approximately 17% of the total population in Weld County and 5.9% in Larimer County. In the census of 2000, Mexican-American populations had increased to 20.9% in Weld County, and 6.6% in Larimer County.
Immigration in northern Colorado was motivated by the beet sugar industry. Sugar beet agriculture required a large work force from May through October. Originally they had found this work force by recruiting German-Russian families from the midwestern area of the United States. As these individuals and their families became landowners and urban dwellers, a need arose for a work force to replace them. Agents from the Great Western Sugar Company began recruiting Mexican laborers at the Texas border. The Company provided transportation by train to Colorado and contracted with local farmers for seasonal labor and housing. Many of these workers remained in Colorado and are now residing in urban centers of Larimer and Weld counties.
Other individuals of Hispanic origins migrated north from southern Colorado and northern New Mexico to work in the sugar beet fields, on the railroads or stone quarries of northern Colorado.
Prior to the initiation of Border Patrol in 1924 by the United States government, immigrants traveled freely across borders in both northern and southern directions. Most immigrants were young Mexican men crossing for daily work opportunities in Texas fields or urban centers. Some young men traveled on the seasonal migrant circuit during the harvest season, returning to Mexico at season's end. Initially a few entire households would head north for work, wages and improved lifestyles. At first, these families followed the seasonal migratory circuit. Eventually, however, many established residency in the southwestern United States.
Generally, most undocumented immigrants were called "Wetbacks" ("mojados") because they swam or crossed the Rio Grande River illegally in rafts during the United State's agricultural seasons. The majority of crossings were made at night on a flat boat or a raft called the "duck". Some of the "mojados" never made the crossing. They were drowned or mysteriously shot from the American shores. Others crossed only to be turned back or jailed by the Border Patrol. "Aerialists" were illegal immigrants who entered New Mexico and Arizona by climbing barbed wire fences. Some succeeded, but most met the same fates as the "mojados".
To assist some illegal aliens in crossing the border into the United States, the "coyote" system was established. "Coyotes" were individuals who guided or transported Mexican citizens illegally across the border into the United States for a price (Hoobler, 1994, p.42). These men or women were experienced at evading the "migra" or Border Patrol. For their services, the "coyotes" charged high fees and immigrants often lost what little savings they had accumulated. The guarantees offered by the "coyotes" were often worthless promises. For most Mexicans, however, paying the "coyotes" for guidance was worth the risk of losing their money and possessions because in the United States, an individual could earn up to four times what he or she could make in Mexico (41).
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