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'{{short description|Mass deportation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans between 1929 and 1936}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = Mexican Repatriation in the United States | partof = | image = File:Mexican Repatriation, 1931.jpg | image_size = 250 | alt = | caption = Waving goodbye to a train carrying 1,500 persons being expelled from Los Angeles on August 20, 1931 | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | motive = | location = [[United States]] | target = [[Mexicans]] and [[Mexican Americans]] | coordinates = | date = 1929–1936 | time = | timezone = | type = [[population transfer]] | fatalities = | victims = 400,000<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKYr2bRqlxMC|title=Unwanted Mexican Americans in the Great Depression: Repatriation Pressures, 1929-1939|last=Hoffman|first=Abraham|date=1974-01-01|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=9780816503667|language=en}}</ref> - 2,000,000<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1A6iBy_0qacC|title=Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s|last=Balderrama|first=Francisco E.|last2=Rodriguez|first2=Raymond|date=2006-01-01|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=9780826339737|language=en}}</ref> | perps = | susperps = | susperp = | weapons = | numparts = | numpart = | dfens = | dfen = | footage = }}{{Chicano and Mexican American topics sidebar|state=collapsed}} The '''Mexican Repatriation ''' was a mass deportation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans from the United States between 1929 and 1936. Estimates of how many were repatriated range from 400,000 to 2,000,000.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKYr2bRqlxMC|title=Unwanted Mexican Americans in the Great Depression: Repatriation Pressures, 1929-1939|last=Hoffman|first=Abraham|date=1974-01-01|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=9780816503667|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|xiii}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1A6iBy_0qacC|title=Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s|last=Balderrama|first=Francisco E.|last2=Rodriguez|first2=Raymond|date=2006-01-01|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=9780826339737|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|150}} An estimated sixty percent of those deported were [[Birthright citizenship in the United States|birthright citizens]] of the United States.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|330}} Because the forced movement was based on ethnicity, and frequently ignored citizenship, some scholars argue the process meets modern legal definitions of [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref name="johnson">{{cite news|url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=plr|title=The Forgotten Repatriation of Persons of Mexican Ancestry and Lessons for the War on Terror|last=Johnson|first=Kevin|date=Fall 2005|publisher=Pace Law Review|issue=1|location=Davis, California|volume=26}}</ref>{{Rp|6}} Widely blamed for exacerbating the overall economic downturn of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKf8_WF7ppEC|title=Latino Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook|last=Navarro|first=Sharon Ann|last2=Mejia|first2=Armando Xavier|date=2004-01-01|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851095230|pages=23|language=en}}</ref> Mexicans were further targeted because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of [[mestizos]], and easily identifiable [[barrio]]s."<ref name=":3">{{cite book|title=Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America|last=Ruiz|first=Vicki L.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-19-513099-7|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fromoutofshadows0000ruiz/page/27 27–29]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fromoutofshadows0000ruiz/page/27}}</ref> While supported by the federal government, actual deportations were largely organized and carried out by city and state governments, often with support from local private entities. == Mexican-American migration before the Great Depression == [[File:Mexican Cession in Mexican View.PNG|thumb|Former Mexican territories within the United States. The [[Mexican Cession]] and former [[Republic of Texas]] are both shown in white, while the [[Gadsden Purchase]] is shown in brown.]] At the beginning of the Great Depression, there were two primary sources of US residents of Mexican descent: territorial changes after the Mexican–American War, and migration.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} === Cession of Mexican territory === With the U.S. victory in the [[Mexican–American War]], the [[Gadsden Purchase]], and the annexation of the [[Republic of Texas]], much of the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming, were ceded to the United States.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Byza6YM2bukC|title=The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S.|last=Rosales|first=F. Arturo|date=2007-01-01|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313338304|editor-last=Soto|editor-first=Lourdes Diaz|pages=400–403|language=en|chapter=Repatriation of Mexicans from the US}}</ref> This land was roughly half of Mexico's pre-war territory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/|title=The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2018-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/war/wars_end_guadalupe.html|title=The U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848) - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo|website=PBS|access-date=2018-05-14}}</ref> 80,000-100,000 Mexican citizens lived in this territory, and were promised U.S. citizenship under the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]], which ended the Mexican–American War.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_T9BS3hHzkC|title=The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict|last=Castillo|first=Richard Griswold del|date=1992-09-01|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=9780806124780|language=en|chapter=Chapter 5: Citizenship and Property Rights|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/treatyofguadalup00rich}}</ref> About 3,000 decided to move to Mexican territory.<ref name=":2" /> Mexicans who remained in the U.S. were considered U.S. citizens and were counted as "white" by the U.S. census until 1930, but a growing influx of immigrants combined with local racism led to the creation of a new category in the census of that year.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gratton|first=Brian|last2=Merchant|first2=Emily Klancher|date=2016-09-30|title=La Raza: Mexicans in the United States Census|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/631860|journal=Journal of Policy History|language=en|volume=28|issue=4|pages=537–567|issn=1528-4190|doi=10.1017/S0898030616000257}} [https://neukom.dartmouth.edu/docs/16_gratton_la_raza_merchant.pdf Alt URL]</ref> === Emigration from Mexico === Mexican emigration to the United States was not significant until the construction of the railroad network between Mexico and the Southwest, which provided employment and eased transit.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|6–7}} Increasing demands for agricultural labor, and the violence and economic disruption of the [[Mexican Revolution]], also caused many to flee Mexico during the years of 1910-1920<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|8–9}} and again during the [[Cristero War]] in the late 1920s.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|15}} American employers often encouraged such emigration. At the onset of the 20th century, "U.S. employers went so far as to make requests directly to the president of Mexico to send more labor into the United States" and hired "aggressive labor recruiters who work outside the parameters of the U.S." in order to recruit Mexican labor for jobs in industry, railroads, meatpacking, steel mills, and agriculture.<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225">{{cite journal|last=Aguila|first=Jamie R.|date=March 2007|title=Mexican/U.S. Immigration Policy Prior to the Great Depression|journal=The Journal of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Diplomatic History|volume=31|issue=2|pages=207–225|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2007.00612.x}}</ref> This led to the existence of Mexican communities outside of the Southwest, in places like [[Indiana]]<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Betten|first=Neil|last2=Mohl|first2=Raymond A.|date=1973-08-01|title=From Discrimination to Repatriation: Mexican Life in Gary, Indiana, during the Great Depression|journal=Pacific Historical Review|language=en|volume=42|issue=3|pages=370–388|doi=10.2307/3637683|issn=0030-8684|jstor=3637683}}</ref> and [[Michigan]]<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Valdés|first=Dennis Nodín|date=1988-01-01|title=Mexican Revolutionary Nationalism and Repatriation during the Great Depression|journal=Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=1–23|doi=10.2307/1052051|issn=0742-9797|jstor=1052051}}</ref> (though the vast majority of Mexicans in the US remained in the Southwest). These early waves of immigration also led to waves of repatriation, generally tied to economic downturns. During the [[Panic of 1907|depression of 1907]], the Mexican government allocated funds to repatriate some Mexicans living in the United States.<ref name=":2" /> Similarly, in the [[Depression of 1920–21|depression of 1920-21]], the US government was advised to deport Mexicans to "relieve ... benevolence agencies of the burden of helping braceros and their families."<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" />{{Rp|213}} While some sources report up to 150,000 repatriations during this period,<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" />{{Rp|216}} Mexican and US records conflict as to whether emigration from the US to Mexico increased in 1921, and only a limited number of formal deportations were recorded.<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" /> {{Rp|211, 214}} === U.S. citizenship and immigration law === Immigration from Mexico was not formally regulated until the [[Immigration Act of 1917]],<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" />{{Rp|213}} but enforcement was lax and many exceptions were given for employers.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|9, 11, 13}} In 1924, with the establishment of the [[United States Border Patrol|U.S. Border Patrol]], enforcement became more strict,<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|11, 13}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|10–11}} and in the late 1920s before the market crash, as part of a general anti-immigrant sentiment, enforcement was again tightened.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|30–33}} Due to the lax immigration enforcement, and porousness of the border, many citizens, legal residents, and immigrants did not have the official documentation proving their citizenship, had lost their documents, or just never applied for citizenship.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|24}} Prejudice played a factor: Mexicans were stereotyped as "unclean, improvident, indolent, and innately dull",<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|23}} so many Mexicans did not apply for citizenship because they "knew that if [they] became a citizen [they] would still be, in the eyes of the Anglos, a Mexican".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|20}} == Repatriation of the early 1930s == Large numbers of Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans were repatriated during the early 1930s. This followed the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Wall Street crash of 1929]], and resulting growth in nativist sentiment, exemplified by President [[Herbert Hoover]]'s call for deportation<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|4, 74–75}} and a series on the racial inferiority of Mexicans run by the [[The Saturday Evening Post|Saturday Evening Post]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />{{Rp|fn 14}} === Scope of repatriation === Reliable data for the total number repatriated is difficult to come by.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|149}}<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Hoffman|first=Abraham|date=1972-10-01|title=Mexican Repatriation Statistics: Some Suggested Alternatives to Carey McWilliams|url=http://observatoriocolef.org/_admin/documentos/Hoffman%20Repatriation%20Statistics.pdf|journal=The Western Historical Quarterly|language=en|volume=3|issue=4|pages=391–404|doi=10.2307/966864|issn=0043-3810|jstor=966864}}</ref> Hoffman estimates that over 400,000 Mexicans left the US between 1929 and 1937,<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|xiii}} with a peak of 138,000 in 1931.<ref name=":5" /> Mexican government sources suggest over 300,000 were repatriated between 1930 and 1933,<ref name="Aguila 2007 207–225" />{{Rp|fn 20}} while Mexican media reported up to 2,000,000 during a similar span.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|150}} After 1933, repatriation decreased from the 1931 peak, but was over 10,000 in most years until 1940.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|49}} Research by California state senator [[Joe Dunn (California politician)|Joseph Dunn]] concluded that 1.8 million had been repatriated.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/americas-brutal-forgotten-history-of-illegal-deportations/517971/|title=America's Forgotten History of Illegal Deportations|last=Wagner|first=Alex|date=2017-03-06|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-06-14|language=en-US}}</ref> This constituted a significant portion of the Mexican population in the US. By one estimate, one-fifth of Mexicans in California were repatriated by 1932, and one-third of all Mexicans in the US between 1931 and 1934.<ref name=":3" /> The [[1930 United States Census|1930 Census]] reported 1.3 million Mexicans in the US, but this number is not believed to be reliable, because some repatriations had already begun, illegal immigrants were not counted, and the Census attempted to use racial concepts that did not map to how many Spanish-speakers in the Southwest defined their own identities.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|14}} Repatriation was not evenly geographically distributed, with Mexicans living in the US midwest being only 3% of the overall Mexican population in the US but perhaps 10% of repatriates.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|379}} Besides coverage in local newspapers and radio, deportation was frequent enough that it was reflected in the lyrics of Mexican [[Corrido|popular music]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salinas|first=Michelle|year=2016|title=Singing the Great Depression: Mexican and Mexican American Perspectives Through Corridos (1929-1949)|url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4n53d8c6|journal=EScholarship|series=UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations|language=en|pages=21–36}}</ref> === Justifications for repatriation === [[File:370403-Dies-Martin.jpg|thumb|Martin Dies Jr.]] Even before the Wall Street crash, a variety of "small farmers, progressives, labor unions, eugenicists, and racists" had called for restrictions on Mexican immigration.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|26}} Their arguments focused primarily on competition for jobs, and the cost of public assistance for indigents.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|26}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|98}} These arguments continued after the beginning of the Great Depression. For example, in Los Angeles, [[C.P. Visel]], the spokesman for Los Angeles Citizens Committee for Coordination of Unemployment Relief (LACCCU), wrote to the federal government that deportation was necessary because "[w]e need their jobs for needy citizens".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|67}} A member of the Los Angeles County board of Supervisors, H.M. Blaine, is recorded as saying "the majority of the Mexicans in the Los Angeles Colonia were either on relief or were public charges."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|99}} Similarly, Congressman [[Martin Dies Jr.|Martin Dies]] wrote in the Chicago Herald-Examiner that the "large alien population is the basic cause of unemployment."<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|377}} Independent groups such as the [[American Federation of Labor]] (AFL) and the National Club of America for Americans also thought that deporting Mexicans would free up jobs for U.S. citizens and the latter group urged Americans to pressure the government into deporting Mexicans.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|68}} Secretary of Labor [[William N. Doak|William Doak]] (who at that time oversaw the Border Patrol) "asserted that deportation ... was essential for reducing unemployment".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|40}} Contemporaries did not always agree with this analysis. For example, in a study of El Paso, Texas, the National Catholic Welfare Conference estimated that deportation of parents who were non-citizens would cost more than roundup and deportation, because previously ineligible remaining children and wives would become eligible for welfare.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|77}} Modern economic research has also suggested that the economic impact of deportation was negligible or even negative.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Jongkwan|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|last3=Yasenov|first3=Vasil|date=September 2017|title=The Employment Effects of Mexican Repatriations: Evidence from the 1930s|journal=NBER Working Paper No. 23885 |doi=10.3386/w23885|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w23885.pdf}}</ref> Racism was also a factor.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|29}}<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|374–377}} Mexicans were targeted in part because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of [[mestizos]], and easily identifiable barrios."<ref name=":3" /><!-- This deserves to be expanded on, but it is not trivial to do well. --> Repatriation was largely designed and implemented by the Mexican government with cooperation and assistance by the United States. Mexican land on the U.S. border had become largely abandoned by Mexican citizens, while U.S. citizens were crossing the border to occupy the land in large numbers. Mexico, fearing another occupation and subsequent rebellion by foreign nationals, implemented the repatriation program. Another justification made by Mexican officials for bringing back Mexican nationals was to repatriate large numbers of Mexican citizens with agricultural and industrial expertise learned in the United States.<ref>https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/07/18/93940224.pdf</ref><ref>https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1926/06/15/98382532.html?pageNumber=38</ref> === Mechanisms of repatriation === In response to these justifications, the federal government, in coordination with local governments, took steps to remove Mexicans. These actions were a combination of federal actions that created a "climate of fear", along with local activities that encouraged repatriation through a combination of "lure, persuasion, and coercion".<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|6}} ==== Early "voluntary" repatriation ==== Mexicans were often among the first to be laid off after the crash of 1929.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|4}} When combined with endemic harassment, many sought to return to Mexico.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|372–377}} For example, in 1931 in Gary, Indiana, a number of people sought funding to return to Mexico, or took advantage of reduced-rate train tickets.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|380–381}} By 1932, such repatriation was no longer voluntary, as local governments and aid agencies in Gary began to use "repressive measures ... to force the return of reluctant voyagers".<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|384}} Similarly, in Detroit, by 1932 one Mexican national reported to the local consul that police had "dragged" him to the train station against his will, after he had proven his residency the previous year.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|8}} Mexican Consulates across the country received complaints of "harassment, beatings, heavy-handed tactics, and verbal abuse".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|79}} ==== Federal government action ==== [[File:Wndoak.jpg|thumb|William Doak, Secretary of Labor]] As the effects of the Great Depression worsened and affected larger numbers of people, feelings of hostility toward immigrants increased rapidly, and the Mexican community as a whole suffered as a result. States began passing laws that required all public employees to be American citizens, and employers were subject to harsh penalties such as a five hundred dollar fine or six months in jail if they hired immigrants. Although the law was hardly enforced, "employers used it as a convenient excuse for not hiring Mexicans. It also made it difficult for any Mexican, whether American citizens or foreign born, to get hired."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|89}} The federal government imposed restrictions for immigrant labor as well, requiring firms that supply the government with goods and services refrain from hiring immigrants and, as a result, most larger corporations followed suit, and as a result, many employers fired their Mexican employees and few hired new Mexican workers causing unemployment to increase among the Mexican population.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|89–91}} President Hoover publicly endorsed Secretary of Labor Doak and his campaign to add "245 more agents to assist in the deportation of 500,000 foreigners."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|75}} Doak's measures included monitoring labor protests or farm strikes and labeling protesters and protest leaders as possible subversives, communists, or radicals. "Strike leaders and picketers would be arrested, charged with being illegal aliens or engaging in illegal activities, and thus be subject to arbitrary deportation."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|76}} <!--Labeling Mexican activists in this way was a way to garner public support for actions taken by the immigration agents and federal government such as mass raids, arbitrary arrests, and deportation campaigns.{{cn|date=August 2017}} In response to Los Angeles county’s Unemployment Relief Coordinator Visel’s telegram, the federal government sent supervisors of the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|Bureau of Immigration]], Walter E. Carr and W.F. Watkins (both at different times) to Los Angeles to help conduct deportations in the Los Angeles area.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} --> ==== Repatriation in Los Angeles ==== Beginning in the early 1930s, local governments instigated repatriation programs, often conducted through local welfare bureaus or private charitable agencies.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|83}}<ref name=":4" /> Los Angeles had the largest population of Mexicans outside of Mexico,<ref name="johnson"/> and had a typical deportation approach, with a plan for "publicity releases announcing the deportation campaign, a few arrests would be made 'with all publicity possible and pictures,' and both police and deputy sheriffs would assist".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|2}} This led to complaints and criticisms from both the Mexican Consulate and local Spanish language publication, ''[[La Opinión]]''.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|59–62}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|72–74}} The raids were significant in scope, assuming "the logistics of full-scale paramilitary operations", with cooperation from Federal officials, country deputy sheriffs, and city police, who would raid public places, who were then "herded" onto trains or buses.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|71}}<ref name="johnson" />{{Rp|5}} [[Jose David Orozco]] described on his local radio station the "women crying in the streets when not finding their husbands" after deportation sweeps had occurred."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|70}} Several Los Angeles raids included roundups of hundreds of Mexicans, with immigration agents and deputies blocked off all exits to the Mexican neighborhood in East LA, riding "around the neighborhood with their sirens wailing and advising people to surrender themselves to the authorities."<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|59–64}}<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|72}} After the peak of the repatriation, Los Angeles again threatened to deport "between 15,000 and 25,000 families" in 1934. While the Mexican government took the threat seriously enough to attempt to prepare for such an influx, the city ultimately did not carry through on their threat.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|52–55}} === Legal process of deportations === Once apprehended, requesting a hearing was a possibility, but immigration officers rarely informed individuals of their rights, and the hearings were "official but informal," in that immigration inspectors "acted as interpreter, accuser, judge, and jury.".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|67}} Moreover, the deportee was seldom represented by a lawyer, a privilege that could only be granted at the discretion of the immigration officer.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|63}} This process was likely a violation of US federal [[Due Process Clause|due process]], [[Equal Protection Clause|equal protection]], and [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]] rights.<ref name="johnson" />{{Rp|9,12}}<ref name=":10" /> If no hearing was requested, the second option of those apprehended was to voluntarily deport themselves from the US. In theory, this would allow these individuals to reenter the US legally at a later date because "no arrest warrant was issued and no legal record or judicial transcript of the incident was kept.".<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|79}} However, many were misled, and on departure, given a "stamp on their card [which showed] that they have been county charities". This meant that they would be denied readmission, since they would be "liable to become a public charge".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|91}} === Mexican government response === [[File:Rubio Pascual, portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Pascual Ortiz Rubio]], president of Mexico at the peak of the repatriation (1931)]] Mexican governments had traditionally taken the position that it was "duty-bound" to help repatriate Mexicans who lived in the annexed portions of the southwest United States.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title=They Should Stay There: The Story of Mexican Migration and Repatriation During the Great Depression|last=Saúl Alanís Enciso|first=Fernando|year=2017|isbn=978-1469634258|location=Chapel Hill|oclc=970604385}}</ref>{{Rp|17}} However, it did not typically act on this stated policy, because of a lack of resources.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|18}} Nonetheless, because of the large number of repatriations in the early 1930s, the government was forced to act and provided a variety of services. From July 1930 to June 1931, it underwrote the cost of repatriation for over 90,000 nationals.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|24}} In some cases, the government attempted to create new villages ("colonias") where repatriates could live, but the vast majority returned to communities in which relatives or friends lived.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|26}} After the peak of the repatriation had passed, the post-1934 government led by [[Lázaro Cárdenas]] continued to speak about encouraging repatriation, but did little to actually encourage that to occur.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|185–186}} == Subsequent deportations == The federal government responded to the increased levels of immigration that began during [[World War II]] (partly due to increased demand for agricultural labor) with the official 1954 INS program called [[Operation Wetback]], in which an estimated one million persons, the majority of whom were Mexican nationals and immigrants without papers, were repatriated to Mexico. But some were also U.S. citizens and deported to Mexico as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqo01|title=Operation Wetback|author=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=May 24, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/132988/operation-wetback-revisited|title=Operation Wetback Revisited|last=Heer|first=Jeet|date=2016-04-15|work=The New Republic|access-date=2018-05-15|language=en-US}}</ref> == Modern interpretation and awareness == [[File:Deportation - LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes (5638815392).jpg|thumb|Engraving at Los Angeles' [[LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes]], which discusses the repatriation.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-plaza-20170715-story.html|title=L.A.'s Mexican American cultural center begins to blossom after a rocky start|last=Bermudez|first=Esmeralda|date=2017-07-15|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-10-26|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>]] === Apologies === The US federal government has not apologized for the repatriations. In 2006, Congressional representatives [[Hilda Solis]] and [[Luis Gutiérrez]] introduced a bill calling for a commission to study the issue. Solis also called for an apology.<ref name="usatoday" /> The state of California apologized in 2005 by passing the "Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program", which officially recognized the "unconstitutional removal and coerced emigration of United States citizens and legal residents of Mexican descent" and apologized to residents of California "for the fundamental violations of their basic civil liberties and constitutional rights committed during the period of illegal deportation and coerced emigration." However, no reparations for the victims were approved.<ref name="usatoday">{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-04-1930s-deportees-cover_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=U.S. urged to apologize for 1930s deportations | first=Wendy | last=Koch | date=2006-04-05 | access-date=2010-05-12}}</ref><ref name="sb670">{{Cite web|url=https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&division=1.&title=2.&part=&chapter=8.5.&article=|title=California Government Code: Mexican Repatriation [8720 - 8723]|website=California Legislative Information|access-date=2017-02-19}}</ref> Los Angeles County also issued an apology in 2012, and installed a memorial at the site of one of the city's first immigration raids.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailynews.com/20120221/la-county-board-of-supervisors-to-issue-formal-apology-over-mexican-repatriation|title=L.A. County Board of Supervisors to issue formal apology over Mexican Repatriation|last=Villacorte|first=Christina|date=2012-02-21|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|access-date=2017-02-21|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/09/08/437579834/mass-deportation-may-sound-unlikely-but-its-happened-before|title=Mass Deportation May Sound Unlikely, But It's Happened Before|last=Florido|first=Adrian|date=2015-09-15|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-06-14|language=en}}</ref> === Education === Repatriation is not widely discussed in U.S. history textbooks. In a 2006 survey of the nine most commonly used American history textbooks in the United States, four did not mention the topic, and only one devoted more than half a page to the topic. In total, they devoted four pages to the repatriation.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-04-04-history-books_x.htm|title=Some stories hard to get in history books|last=Hunt|first=Kasie|date=2006-04-05|website=USA Today|access-date=2018-05-15}}</ref> In comparison, the same survey found eighteen pages covering the [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment of Japanese Americans during World War II]],<ref name=":9" /> which affected a much smaller number of people.<ref name="johnson"/> California has passed legislation attempting to address this in future curriculum revisions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-california-law-seeks-history-of-mexican-deportations-in-textbooks-20151001-story.html|title=California law seeks history of Mexican deportations in textbooks|last=McGreevy|first=Patrick|last2=Grad|first2=Shelby|date=2015-10-01|website=LA Times|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB146|title=Bill Text - AB-146 Pupil instruction: social sciences: deportations to Mexico.|website=California Legislative Information|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref> === Academic research === An economics paper that studied the effects of the mass repatriation concluded that<blockquote>''cities with larger repatriation intensity ... performed similarly or worse'' in terms of native employment and wages, relative to cities which were similar in most labor market characteristics but which experienced small repatriation intensity. ... [O]ur estimates suggest that [repatriation] may have further increased [native] levels of unemployment and depressed their wages.<ref name=":7" /> ''(emphasis added)'' </blockquote>The researchers suggest that this occurred in part because non-Mexican natives were paid lower wages after the repatriation, and because some jobs related to Mexican labor (such as managers of agricultural labor) were lost.<ref name=":7" /> A legal scholar has argued that since the forced movement was based on race, and frequently ignored citizenship, the process meets modern legal standards for [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref name="johnson" />{{Rp|6}} == See also == {{Portal|Hispanic and Latino Americans|Mexico}} * [[La Matanza (1910–1920)]] * [[Bisbee Deportation]] (1917) * [[Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)]] (1948) * [[Operation Wetback]] (1954) * [[Chandler Roundup]] (1997) * [[Bracero Program]] * [[Repatriation flight program]] * [[Immigration to Mexico]] ==References== {{reflist|2}} == Further reading == * {{Cite book|url=https://www.nap.edu/read/5985/chapter/1|title=The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration|publisher=National Academies Press|language=en|doi=10.17226/5985|year=1998|isbn=978-0-309-05998-5}} * {{Cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/immigrants-the-last-time-america-sent-her-own-packing.htm|title=Immigrants: The Last Time America Sent Her Own Packing|last=Boisson|first=Steve|date=2006-09-01|website=HistoryNet|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-20}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XEaIV4xUDsC|title=The Lost Land: The Chicano Image of the Southwest|last=Chávez|first=John R.|date=1984-01-01|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=9780826307507|language=en}} * {{Cite journal|last=Garza|first=Melita M.|date=2017-01-02|title=Framing Mexicans in Great Depression Editorials: Alien Riff-Raff to Heroes|journal=American Journalism|volume=34|issue=1|pages=26–48|doi=10.1080/08821127.2016.1275216|issn=0882-1127}} * {{Cite book|title=Mexican Workers and American dreams: Immigration, Repatriation, and California Farm Labor, 1900-1939|last=Guerin-Gonzales|first=Camille|date=1994-01-01|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813520483|oclc=867315464}} * {{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSzyMGh8pNwC|title=Mexico and the United States|date=2002-10-01|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=9780761474029|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Stacy|language=en|chapter=Deportation and Repatriation}} * McKay, Robert R. "The Federal Deportation Campaign in Texas: Mexican Deportation from the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the Great Depression," ''Borderlands Journal'', Fall 1981 * {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mexicanamericans00sker|url-access=registration|title=Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority|last=Skerry|first=Peter|date=1995-01-01|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674572621|language=en}} * {{Cite journal|last=Valenciana|first=Christine|year=2006|title=Unconstitutional Deportation of Mexican Americans During the 1930s: A Family History and Oral History|url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ759627.pdf|journal=Multicultural Education|volume=Spring|pages=4–9}} == External links == {{Commons category|Mexican Repatriation}} * [http://www.katavila.com/alfred/images/repatriation.jpg Letter of repatriation (1933) sent by Los Angeles government to resident] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110713140404/http://www.katavila.com/alfred/images/repatriation.jpg archive]) * "A Forgotten Injustice": documentary film by a Mexican-American whose grandmother was forced to leave the US during the repatriation. [http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/lost-citizens/Content?oid=1098523 Review], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9coxGJNjZI trailer], [https://web.archive.org/web/20100316123938/http://aforgotteninjustice.com/ archive of official site]. * [http://teachbocolatinohistory.colorado.edu/primary-source-sets/repatriation-and-deportation-of-mexicans-1932-1936/ Boulder, Colorado Repatriation and Deportation of Mexicans, 1932-1936]: primary sources (including newspaper articles) about Colorado-area repatriations. {{Chicano and Mexican American topics}} [[Category:Ethnic cleansing in the United States]] [[Category:Forced migrations in the United States]] [[Category:History of immigration to the United States]] [[Category:Presidency of Herbert Hoover]] [[Category:Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]] [[Category:Mexican-American history]] [[Category:Mexico–United States relations]] [[Category:1929 in the United States]] [[Category:1930s in the United States]]'