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In this chapter I analyze the political process Mexican immigrants currently undergo to become U.S. citizens. I advance a numerical overview of Mexican immigrants’ naturalization rates from 1960 to the present and explore the social conditions that over the years have led them to increasingly pursue a path toward citizenship. Unlike other parts of this book, this chapter focuses on Mexican immigrants in general, although I also discuss the particular role of Mexican immigrants in Texas. The macro approach advanced here is employed to highlight major changes in federal legislation and to delineate how, from 1965 to 1976, laws restructured Mexican immigration and in turn impacted naturalization patterns. One of my principal aims is to illustrate that under the reforms of this period the U.S. Congress introduced a system of law that prevented most Mexicans from entering the United States legally and thereby created a statutory structure that reduced the size of the eligible pool of Mexicans qualifying for naturalization. I will illustrate as well that although legal immigration became very difficult, the flow of Mexicans steadily continued. Most newcomers entered as undocumented residents in that for the most part only those who had family in the United States qualified for immigration visas. In discussing the immigration events of this period, I explore how U.S.Mexico international politics have shaped U.S. immigration policy toward Mexico. By tradition, as I have argued throughout this book, Mexican immigration to the United States has been stimulated by economic and political problems in Mexico, while on the other hand U.S. corporations have benefited from Mexico’s misfortune and profited from the cheap source of labor that enters the country. In 1965, however, this relationship was disrupted when an oversupply of cheap Mexican agricultural labor was viewed by Congress as a liability rather than an asset. To curtail Mexican immiCHAPTER 6 Then and Now: The Path Toward Citizenship Then and Now 261 gration Congress revised the immigration laws, making it nearly impossible for common laborers and their families to enter legally. Legal entry laws were periodically but only temporarily eased when severe farm labor shortages threatened the interests of agribusiness. For example, in the mid1980s , when growers reported that they were suffering from a shortage of farmworkers, the federal government responded by allowing thousands of undocumented agricultural workers to adjust their illegal status to permanent legal residency. However, as I illustrate, in meeting the labor needs of the agribusiness industry Congress complicated immigration policy in that a legal procedure that did not discriminate against people who were not engaged in agricultural occupations now had to be instituted. The chapter concludes with a discussion of current debates on immigration and naturalization reforms and the Mexican government’s response. I examine not only congressional resolutions that explore new ways of stopping undocumented Mexican immigration but also resolutions proposing to radically alter U.S. naturalization laws. Specifically, I turn to debates over House Resolution (H.R.) 4437, which aimed to convert many U.S. citizens and undocumented workers into felons if they did not abide by U.S. immigration laws. Under this resolution U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents who knowingly aided undocumented people (for example, gave shelter or health care) or facilitated their entry would be charged with felony crimes. In the case of the apprehended undocumented aliens, H.R. 4437 proposed changing their conviction for illegal entry from a misdemeanor (for first entry) to a felony crime. The intent of this legislation was to create barriers preventing undocumented aliens from adjusting their status to permanent legal residency, as a felony conviction would disqualify them from such an adjustment and ultimately block their path toward citizenship. In the area of naturalization law I examine a series of birthright resolutions introduced from 1993 to 2008 that have attempted to rescind the U.S. citizenship status of children born in the United States of parents who are undocumented. The primary aim of these resolutions, as publicly stated by their congressional sponsors, is to facilitate the deportation of undocumented parents who use their children’s U.S. citizenship as a legal basis for remaining in the United States. I argue that although controlling illegal immigration may be the public rationalization of birthright advocates, it is transparently obvious that the reform movement is tied to electoral politics. Some state legislators in Texas have been active supporters of birthright reform. In the past when several congressional resolutions failed to pass...

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