Mexican Repatriation

People waving goodbye to a train carrying 1,500 Mexicans from Los Angeles on August 20, 1931
This article is part of a series on the
History of Chicanos
and Mexican Americans
Early-American period
Juan Crow
Chicano Movement
Post-Chicano Movement
Supreme Court cases
by region

The Mexican Repatriation was the repatriation, deportation, and expulsion of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States during the Great Depression between 1929 and 1939.[1][2][3] Estimates of how many were repatriated, deported, or expelled range from 300,000 to 2 million (of which 40–60% were citizens of the United States, overwhelmingly children).[4]: fn 20 [5][6]: 330 [7][8]: xiii [6]: 150 

Repatriation was supported by the federal government but actual deportation and repatriations were largely organized and encouraged by city and state governments, often with support from local private entities. However, voluntary repatriation was far more common than formal deportation and federal officials were minimally involved.[5] Some of the repatriates hoped that they could escape the economic crisis of the Great Depression.[9] The government formally deported at least 82,000 people,[10] with the vast majority occurring between 1930 and 1933.[5][11] The Mexican government also encouraged repatriation with the promise of free land.[8][12]: 185–186 

Some scholars contend that the unprecedented number of deportations between 1929 and 1933 were part of a policy by the administration of Herbert Hoover who had scapegoated Mexicans for the Great Depression and instituted stricter immigration policies with the stated intent of freeing up jobs for Americans.[5] The vast majority of formal deportations happened between 1930 and 1933 as part of Hoover's policy first mentioned in his 1930 State of the Union Address.[5] After Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, both formal and voluntary rate of deportation lessened for all immigrants, including Mexicans.[5] The Roosevelt administration also instituted more lenient policies towards Mexican immigrants.[5] Widely scapegoated for exacerbating the overall economic downturn of the Great Depression, many Mexicans lost their jobs.[13] Mexicans were further targeted because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of mestizos, and easily identifiable barrios."[14]

Estimates of the number who moved to Mexico between 1929 and 1939 range from 300,000 and 2 million,[5] with most estimates placing the number at between 500,000 and 1 million.[10] The highest estimate comes from Mexican media reports at the time.[6]: 150  The vast majority of repatriation occurred in the early 1930s with the peak year in 1931.[12]: 49  It is estimated that there were 1,692,000 people of Mexican origin in the US in 1930, which was reduced to 1,592,000 in 1940.[5] Up to one-third of all Mexicans in the US were repatriated by 1934.[14]

  1. ^ Nava, Julian; Hoffman, Abraham (2018). Unwanted Mexican Americans in the Great Depression: Repatriation Pressures, 1929–1939. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-3778-5.
  2. ^ Hester, Torrie (June 30, 2020), "The History of Immigrant Deportations", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.647, ISBN 978-0-19-932917-5, retrieved March 9, 2024
  3. ^ Goodman, Adam (2020). The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants. Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvs1g9p1. ISBN 978-0-691-20420-8. JSTOR j.ctvs1g9p1.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Aguila 2007 207–225 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gratton, Brian; Merchant, Emily (December 2013). "Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950" (PDF). Vol. 47, no. 4. The International migration review. pp. 944–975.
  6. ^ a b c Balderrama, Francisco E.; Rodriguez, Raymond (January 1, 2006). Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. UNM Press. ISBN 9780826339737.
  7. ^ Ray, Eric L. (2005). "Mexican Repatriation and the Possibility for a Federal Cause of Action: A Comparative Analysis on Reparations". The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review. 37 (1): 171–196. ISSN 0884-1756. JSTOR 40176606.
  8. ^ a b Hoffman, Abraham (January 1, 1974). Unwanted Mexican Americans in the Great Depression: Repatriation Pressures, 1929–1939. VNR AG. ISBN 9780816503667.
  9. ^ Gutiérrez, Laura D. (January 1, 2020). ""Trains of Misery": Repatriate Voices and Responses in Northern Mexico during the Great Depression". Journal of American Ethnic History. 39 (4): 13–26. doi:10.5406/jamerethnhist.39.4.0013. ISSN 0278-5927. S2CID 226667916.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Navarro, Sharon Ann; Mejia, Armando Xavier (January 1, 2004). Latino Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 23. ISBN 9781851095230.
  14. ^ a b Ruiz, Vicki L. (1998). Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 27–29. ISBN 978-0-19-513099-7.