Borderland Issues

1
Borderland Issues

• History of Borderland issues
• Current issues and politics that surround the
  border
• Further reading

2
What is the borderland?

• Today the US Mexico border covers 2000 miles
  encompassing four US and six Mexican states.
• Borderland culture has become almost a culture in
  itself.

3
History Establishing the Border

• 1819 U.S Spain define border
• 1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain
• 1846 U.S. declares war on Mexico to settle
  Texas, which has claimed independence from
  Mexico.

4
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848

• For 15 million and a few promises the U.S. gets
• California, Arizona, Nevada, parts of Colorado,
  Nevada, New Mexico Texas
• Residents of the acquired territory are
  guaranteed citizenship, property rights, civil
  rights, education and protection under the U.S.
  law
• Except not really. When ratified, the article is
  removed

5
Post-treaty Anti-Mexican sentiment

• Texas New Mexico Mexican residents are
  restricted from voting
• California passes Greaser laws
• Most residents lose their land
• California Land Claims Act fails in part to
  economic hardships, which make claims difficult
  to determine enforce

6
1855 Greaser Act

• Defined vagrants as all persons who were
  commonly known as Greasers or the issue of
  Spanish or Indian blood
• Intended to keep Hispanics from owning mines and
  provided another justification for expropriation
  of American Hispanic lands

7
1851 California Land Claims Act

• Provided that claims to all lands in California
  be presented within two years of the date of the
  act
• Many people didnt know the requirements and
  therefore lost their land

8
Wait! Come back! Fun in the 1880s

• Anti-Asian sentiment stronger than anti-Mexican
• Chinese Exclusion Act passed
• Mexican railroad workers recruited
• 1904 First border patrol established to keep
  Asian immigrants from entering through the
  U.S./Mexico border

9
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

• Climax to more than 30 years of progressive
  racism
• Suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and
  declared Chinese ineligible for naturalization

10
Just Kidding! Get out!

• 1910 Mexican Revolution
• Thousands flee Mexico to enter the U.S.

11
Baby, I didnt mean to hurt you. Come back.

• 1920 First defacto bracero program recruits
  Mexican agricultural workers
• 1921 Agricultural lobbyists seek to include
  Mexicans among the list of restricted immigrants
  to the U.S.
• 1924 largest recruitment of Mexican workers ever
• 89,000 immigrants given permanent visas
• Concept of illegal immigrant emerges for the
  first time

12
Woah, woah, woah. I said Come back. I didnt
say, Stay.

• The Depression hits
• Visas denied
• Deportations begin
• Border stations established
• Tax collected on people crossing the border

13
1931 Lemon Grove

• Lemon Grove local school board built a separate
  2-room barn-like facility for Mexican pupils
  across the tracks in the barrio
• 2nd-hand equipment, books and supplies
• Parents voted to boycott school and seek legal
  redress
• Board members argued school meant to meet needs
  of non-English-speaking children
• Judge ordered immediate reinstatement to old
  school

14
But I need you. Come home.

• World War II A labor crisis
• 1942 Bracero Program established
• Workers granted legal residency in the U.S.
• Millions of Mexican citizens imported

15
I have tired of you. Get out.

• War ends, U.S. citizens return, Mexican workers
  deported
• Labor shortage. 1951 Bracero program revived
• 1953 Operation Wetback
• 1960s Bracero Program ends

16
1954 Operation Wetback

• Repatriation project of the United States
  Immigration and Naturalization Service to remove
  illegal Mexican immigrants (wetbacks) from the
  Southwest
• Operation trailed off in the fall of the same
  year due to lack of funds after the apprehension
  and deportation of thousands of illegal aliens

17
1972 Brown Berets

• Brown Berets, a youth organization, took over
  Catalina Island off the Southern coast of
  California to symbolize their fight to protect
  the civil property rights of Mexicans in the
  Southwest

18
The economy informs notions of race.

• Border Industrialization Program
• Twin Plant assembly program
• Maquiladoras
• 1982 Devaluation of Mexican currency makes
  relocation of American businesses to Mexico an
  attractive option

19
NAFTA We love to hate you.

• Economic incentives make borderlands an
  attractive location for employment
• Increase in Mexican residents in borderlands
  causes increase in border patrol
• Fences established, English only laws passed
• The culture war continues

20
Current Border Issues The Wall of
Embarrassment/ the Mexican American Border

• The Mexican media calls the border the wall of
  embarrassment because they believe it is
  embarrassing to Americans.
• How many people has the wall and militarized
  border budget kept out?

21
Current Borderland Issues Minutemen

• Project started by conservative Americans to
  control immigration using their own means.
• Propelled by Homeland Security issues, post 9/11
• Minutemen website

22
Current Borderland Issues Healthcare

• The controversy occurs in the US because many
  people believe that no one should be turned away
  from a hospital for an illness.
• In many states propositions have been passed that
  make it illegal for doctors to treat undocumented
  immigrants.
• More information
• What do you think?

23
Related LinksNow lets rhetorically analyze

• A Rational Approach to Immigration
• Post- Sept. 11 Vigilante Justice
• The 15 Second Men

24
Further Exploration

• Borderlands/La Frontera The New Mestiza by
  Gloria Anzaldúa
• Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
• The Border (documentary) by PBS
• The Salt of the Earth (film) by Herbert Biberman
• Act Resist (Web site)

25
Credits

• Director Bethany Hunter
• Executive Producer Robert Carlson
• Key Grip Katherine Tierney
• Editor Megan Mock
• Hair and Make-up Robert Carlson
• Best Posture Anna Van Dyke
• Who would win in a fight Megan Mock