Mexican Immigration to the United States This pa

Mexican Immigration to the United States

This paper will discuss the immigration of Mexicans to the United States. The first part of the paper will describe the history of this immigration. This will cover the period from the Mexican-American War to the present. The second part of the paper will examine the problems the immigrants faced in assimilating into American culture. This will look at the problem of discrimination and the participation of Mexican-Americans in the political process.

There is little evidence of Mexican immigration to the United States on a massive scale prior to the Twentieth Century. On the contrary, Americans migrated to Mexican lands throughout the Nineteenth Century. The Spanish had created settlements throughout the Southwest during the Eighteenth Century and early part of the Nineteenth century. When Mexico attained its independent status in the 1820s, Mexicans had largely settled the territory of Texas and the southern part of California. These settlements were seized by Americans during the Texas revolt in the 1830s and the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. The conquest of the Southwest by the United States effectively made Mexicans foreigners in the land which they had occupied before the Americans arrived. (Billington & Ridge, 1982, pp. 426-50; Acu�a, 1978, pp. 302-27).

During the last half of the Nineteenth Century, the Mexican inhabitants of the Southwest continued to live and work in the re

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the United States again reversed the migration, sending the men back to Mexico in the early 1930s. (Taylor, 1933, pp. 36-37). Immigration increased during the Second World War, as a labor shortage developed in the United States. Again, the same pattern was followed, with Mexican men comprising most of the immigrant population. After the war, the issue of immigration faded in the American political scene, as relative prosperity promised work for those who wanted it. However, the economic problems which started in the 1970s brought the issue back into focus, and the focus was placed on the illegal immigrant from Mexico. The issue was assimilation and there was a fear that a second society was developing within the United States, a society which was marked by Mexican culture. (Acu�a, 1988, pp. 426-27) Assimilation and Discrimination Prior to the Second World War, Mexican-Americans were treated as second-class citizens, because of their racial and cultural background. Since most Chicanos were of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry, they were the subjects of discriminatory attitudes which had been held against the Spanish and the Indians. In addition, since they occupied territory which had been conquered by the United Stat

Category: History - M