The history of Mexico-America immigration

The history of Mexico-America immigration

The history of Mexico-America immigration traces back to the American invasion of Mexico in 1846. During the external expansion, America took over the northwestern parts of Mexico, taking along with almost a hundred thousand Mexicans. A misconception arises that the migration to America is because there is no economic development in Mexico. However, the original migration of Mexicans to America was caused by the shortage of human labor in America due to their strict immigration laws. Further, the liberal development strategies brought by President Porfirio Diaz in 1876 rendered almost five million Mexicans landless. To survive, the poor landless people had to migrate to America to look for jobs to sustain themselves. Politically, the Mexican-American migration was caused by the government policies which saw Mexico join the North American Free Trade Agreement. The move to join NAFTA meant that Mexican farmers had to compete with cheap American goods, which led to the collapse of their agricultural and manufacturing systems. A lot of Mexicans were therefore rendered jobless, leading to migration to America as a result of the open border policies implemented through NAFTA.

Undocumented migration has conventionally been related to labor migration because most Mexicans move to the United States to look for jobs. Historically, the demand for labor in large farms in America led to the recruitment of Mexicans to work in farms in a system called el enganche (the hook). Fordism, which was implemented by President Diaz, saw few people own large tracts of land and use of mechanized tools for cultivation thus rendering a lot of people jobless. The use of flexible accumulation in the United States, which saw the privatization of many companies, led to the demand for labor. The Immigration Act of 1917 allowed an unlimited number of visas offered to Mexicans instead of other immigrants, therefore, allowing them to migrate to America in numbers to take up jobs created through the transition from Fordism to flexible accumulation. Further, the creation of NAFTA liberalized markets, which made Mexican goods inferior compared to American ones, therefore, making Mexican products lose value..

The increased number of undocumented immigrants in America has its own set of pushes and pulls. The main push factors include the free trade policies that significantly affected the economy of Mexico, therefore, rendering people jobless. Joblessness and low living standards resulted in crimes, lack of housing, and health complications that pushed most Mexicans to migrate to America in search of jobs and housing. Other push factors included landlessness as a result of extensive land ownership by a few people. Pull factors included American immigration policies that favored Mexicans, such as the Immigration Act of 1917 and the Bracero program. Most landowners used the loopholes in the Bracero program to allow their laborers to invite their families over to the United States, therefore, increasing the number of undocumented immigrants. Diverse bridges and barriers also aided the increase in undocumented immigrants in the United States. The bridges included the policies, the Bracero Program, and the willingness of other Mexicans already in the United States to bring their relatives. Barriers such as Operation Wetback drew a lot of resistance from Mexicans who believed it was a race and ethnic profiling.

In conclusion, the rise of undocumented Mexican immigrants has a complex history. The history is composed of push and pull factors as well as bridges and barriers between the two nations. Political policies also played a role in sustaining the migration with a lot of people moving to America to find jobs. Immigration policies also favored Mexicans who were able to migrate to America unhindered. Generally, the Mexican-American migration was not only based on economic factors but also political.