"Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso 1880-1920" by Mario García

Hispanics have been immigrating to America since the beginning of the Spanish Colonial era. Up until the 1920’s Mexican Americans have boomed in rural places in america. The 1920’s was meeting the beginning of a renaissance, a better promised life for both native americans as well as immigrants. Businesses were booming, wages were higher, and the industry was creating a bright future for America. However, Mexican Americans continued to face hardships as well as few successes leading up to the 1920’s. Whether these were Native born Americans with a Hispanic background or newly immigrated Mexicans, Mexican Americans faced the hardship of poverty, discrimination, segregation, and struggles during the 1920’s.

In Harvest of Empire’s “Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type” Juan Gonzalez outlines how Mexican descendants contributed to U.S. prosperity and culture. Gonzalez’s assertion is that the Mexicans and their culture have been in the United States long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the establishment of settlements and trade along the Rio Grande by Mexican pioneers, and the important factor Mexican-American workforce had in the nation. He supports his argument using historical records, individual’s stories and local papers. Respectively, Gonzales provides information that Mexicans greatly affected the economic uprising and culture of United States across the border.

As Mexicans were dispossessed of their land, they became poor and often had to take on dangerous jobs. Mexican laborers were important to the market revolution because they made up a majority of the laborers that built the Texas and Mexican railroad that helped connect multiple parts of the United States. Although farm and mine owners often called Mexican laborers good workers, they treated them as inferiors. For doing the same work, Mexican workers were paid less than white workers that did the same work. In the workforce, a social and power hierarchy could be seen as well. On ranches and in mines, the managers were white while the workers that did the manual labor were Mexican. In addition, white collar jobs were more willing to hire Anglos, which left most Mexican workers with blue collar jobs, which paid less than white collar jobs and were more dangerous. This shows contradiction because Mexicans did not have the same chances to get jobs and wages as Anglos, even if they had the same skillset. This also shows contradiction because despite the owners’ belief that Mexican laborers were diligent workers, they paid them

As the population of Latin America and the Caribbean raised in 1995 with a 190 percent increase (Gonzalez 199), the job markets in Mexico are becoming scarce and competitive. The living conditions of residents in provincial towns like in Cheran, “whose timber-based economy is in tatters” (Martinez 9) are greatly affected. Mexican immigrant workers are forced to cross the border and find a greener pasture in the United States, because “in 1994, Mexico was crippled by a profound-and-prolonged-economic crisis” (Martinez 8). With the huge influx of Mexican immigrant workers coming to the States in search for better jobs, the US citizens are concerned about the economic impact: jobs, government and public services. However, the Americans’ concern that the immigrants are draining the nation’s resources, is a sweeping statement, it is based on a myth. There are many recent studies that the immigrant’s population living in the United States helps the economy. Similarly, the Mexican government and immigrant families are grateful for their immigrant workers for lifting the ailing economy and the status of immigrant families. Immigrant workers, legal or illegal, are positively reshaping the economy of sending and receiving countries through these major myths.

The book Harvest of Empire offers many examples of the factors leading to migration, which include economic and political persecution. The book has a direct connection between the hardships Latinos faced economically and military in their perspective countries. By reading this book it is clearly stated that Latinos are on the verge of becoming the largest minority group in America. Juan Gonzalez presents a devastating perspective on U.S. history rarely found in mainstream publishing aimed at a popular audience. Few of those countries were immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Central Americans.

This research paper focuses on the Rio Grande Valley, and immigration. The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate that immigration to the Rio Grande valley has had a negative impact. Effects immigration has on the Valley 's economy, employment, and education are discussed. The concepts of "informal" and "underground" economy by Richardson, C. and Pisani, M. are covered to demonstrate the unique economy the Rio Grande has. Poverty rates at a national and local level are compared. Studies by Richardson, C. and Pagan, J. are used for their statistical information regarding unemployment in the Rio Grande Valley from the years 2000 until today. Counterarguments regarding positive effects in the Rio Grande are considered. Conclusion reached is that immigration in the Rio Grande Valley does have a negative effect, although it is needed, to a certain point in employment and economy; however a positive impact has been experienced in education.

     The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly

Lesson 1 1. These neighborhoods called barrios had Spanish- speaking businesses and Spanish- language newspapers, and they helped keep Hispanic culture and religious traditions alive. 2. The discovery of silver and gold led people to the west. 3. When people heard about minerals in the west cities that had only a couple hundred went to thousands California’s population also grew from 14000 to 100000. 4. It was a cheap food source during that time. 5. The new settlers wanted only for themselves that is why they kept pushing the Hispanics out in order to have a sole ownership and advantage from the minerals from the area. Most of the Hispanics has been thrown by the new settlers out of their homes and lands. The Hispanics in Mexico were the

In his book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner’s main thesis is to show the inefficiency, greed, and inherent difficulty in the American West’s never-ending struggle to turn its unwelcoming desert into a lush garden. One of his main sub-points is that the West is not meant to support millions of people. It has a wide range of geographic challenges throughout the entire region. Its inconsistency and diversity is a primary cause of its water problems. For example, Reisner notes that the West consists of “plains so arid that they could barely support bunchgrass; deserts that were fiercely hot and fiercely cold; streams that flooded a few weeks each year and went dry the rest; forests with trees so large it might take days to bring one down; . . . hail followed by drought followed by hail;” (23).

In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution by Hector Aquilar Camin and Lorenzo Meyer tells a chronological story of contemporary Mexico from the fall of Porfirio Diaz in 1910 to the July elections in 1989. The time period that Camin and Meyer portray in Mexico is one of corruption, civil war, and failure. While Mexico would undergo an era described as the “Mexican Miracle” where the Mexican country would begin to see a positive output in the country, it would be short-lived and Mexico would continue to fall behind as other countries progressed. While In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution is comprised of facts throughout history, one cannot help but feel a sense of sympathy for Mexico. While their corruption, political, and economical,

“A few years after the war ceased, railroads extended west, and markets were established within driving distance of Texas” (Haynes, 278). The railroads were a huge impact on Texas because around that time transportation was very poor. The railroads allowed for goods and other resources to be traded and sold for profits. Texas was known for having a background in farming and ranching because of its Mexican ancestry. Farming and ranching became very important to Texas’ life and economy. Texas’ economy, population, and environment was flourishing, as more and more settlers came along. The ranchers and framers were soon starting to settle in all parts of Texas. “Thes frontier counties we traveld in are nearly all Settle up from the old States mostly

Migration to the United States is regularly the subject of huge open and political level headed discussion, with inquiries regarding the measure of inflows, migrants in the work business sector, authorization and helpful affirmation arrangements, and advantages and expenses. Nevertheless, it is vital for the general population to have entry to precise, fair-minded present and chronicled data about movement. Migration has molded the United States as a country since the principal newcomers landed more than four centuries years back. Considering the intense demographic power in charge of how the nation and its populace got to be what they are today, migration has contributed profoundly to large portions of the financial, social, and political procedures that are foundational to the United States as a country. Market analysts consider the advantages of migration to the USA exceed the expenses. A few states like California and Texas depend for as little as possible work that settler laborers give particularly in tourism and agribusiness. As of late, different urban communities, for example, Phoenix and Atlanta, have additionally gotten to be well known goals for migrants. Santomero called attention to that Philadelphia is prominently lost from this rundown. (Ender, Joanna. 2005). Additional evidence of the segmentation of the labor market between skilled workers and illegal immigrants can be traced to the fact

To what extent have United States immigration policies contributed to the fluctuating trends in Mexican immigration across the border from the mid-20th century into the 21st century? This report is centralized around two main arguments. The first argument accounts for the ineffectiveness of the United States’ original 20th century Immigration and Nationality Acts and work programs for Mexican migrants, as they contributed to the gradual rise in Mexican immigration trends from the

Mexican immigration to the United States began in the 1900’s, characterized as a series of waves that reflected the labor demands in the U.S and political and economic unrest in Mexico. (Citation pending) AND IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE POINT OF THIS PAPER IT IS IMPORTANT TO FIRST GET FAMILIAR WITH LABOR, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF MEXICANS IN THE U.S. The first occurring prior to World War II, where the immigrated population rose from 221,915 in 1910 to 641,462 in 1930, according to the 1933 U.S. Census. (McCaa, 2003)

The article chosen is “U.S. policy and Mexican Migration to the United States” written by Katharine M. Donato (1992) she is a professor of sociology whom discusses the analysis of immigrants who come to the U.S. on worker permits to work for several months to work the agricultural job which are very low on employment. This article corresponds to the results being analysed on Mexican immigration, whom it shows that there were three different time event pattern forms of Mexican immigrants merging into the U.S. Different forms immigrant came to were temporary worker program, legal papers sponsored by relatives, and women interned illegally without children, Katharine had originally prepared this paper for the 1992 annual meeting of the American Sociology Association, and revised in 1993 by Mexico-U.S. migration Department of Latin American Studies at the University of Chicago (Donato, 705).