Labor, Wealth, and Democracy: Mexican Immigration Migration Part 2

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Labor, Wealth, and DemocracyMexican Immigration
/ Migration Part 2
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1848 to Present Phases of Open/Closed
DoorPolices and the Movement of Labor
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Phase I (1848-1916) Causes

• California Gold Rush
• Land policies implemented by Diaz
  dictatorship- allows foreign interests to
  acquire vast amounts of Mexican land- dissolves
  communal peasant holdings
• Mexican population grows
• Companies with mines developing in US border
  towns need labor- Actively solicit Mexicans to
  provide this labor force

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Phase I Open Door Policy Closes

• US employers recruit Chinese immigrants
• - employers exploit Chinese (virtually enslaving
  some of them)
• As this cheap labor source drives down
  wages- indigenous US labor force blames all
  immigrants and seeks remedy from US government
• US government responds by restricting immigration
  of Chinese

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Fear of White/Chinese Miscegenation
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Phase II (1917-1929) Causes

• Border between Mexico and US begins a new more
  open phase
• Rapid economic development in Southwest- requires
  farm laborers
• WWI and Mexican labor force- drawn into military
  service
• - skilled jobs in defense plants

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Phase II Open Door Policy Closes

• Great Depression- record unemployment
  levels- immigrants viewed as threats to
  indigenous labor force
• Visa standards are tightened- legal vs. illegal
  status heightened
• US government encourages legal immigrants to
  repatriate to Mexico- increases deportation of
  illegals

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Phase III (1942-1964) Causes

• WWII creates labor shortage
• - intensified by internment of Japanese
  Americans
• President Franklin Roosevelt implements bracero
  program

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Bracero Working Hand Program

• Recruited over 50,000 Mexican workers in the
  first year- harvesting of crops - maintaining
  railways
• Stipulated workers to be given same wages and
  granted employment protections as Americans in
  comparable jobs
• - this stipulation is not enforced- wages are
  driven down- backlash against immigrants

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Phase III Open Door Policy Closes

• US labor market tightens after WWII ends
• US employers want to maintain bracero program
  - successfully seek provisions to make temporary
  bracero workers permanent
• - structural effects

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Phase IV Modern Period Causes

• Mexican Labor and US Market- service
  sectors- agricultural workers- skilled labor
• Next lecture Effects of Globalization
• World Bank, IMF, and Mexicos La Crisis