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2 A Brief History of Mexico–US Migration Patterns What’s past is prologue. —Shakespeare, The Tempest W hen Mexico won her independence from Spain in 1821, her northern border included all or part of what are now the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado , Wyoming, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. From 1836 until 1853, the United States accomplished a land grab of epic proportions. By 1853, nearly two-thirds of Mexican territory had been acquired by the United States. This chapter briefly summarizes the history of migration between Mexico and the United States. That history properly begins with the tale of how the United States achieved its current geographic character at the expense of its neighbor to the south. Figure 2.1 depicts the northern territories of Mexico in 1821, when she became an independent state. This chapter first examines how the United States acquired, by hook or by crook, most of Mexico’s land. We will see how the Mexican territory of Tejas, now known as Texas, was occupied and finally taken by settlers from the United States. We then consider the project of US expansionism that sought to acquire, at first by negotiation and ultimately by conquest, the lands from California to Colorado. Finally, we examine the migration patterns from Mexico to the United States during the twentieth century, and conclude by summarizing demographic patterns depicting Mexicans residing in the north at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Tejas We are all familiar with newspaper headlines sounding the sensational alarm: “ILLEGAL ALIENS INVADE TEXAS!!!” In this case, however, Tejas 29 the headline would have been in Spanish, Texas would have been spelled “Tejas,” the year would have been 1830, and the undocumented foreign nationals would have been Anglos moving south into Texas territory belonging to the nation of Mexico. Mexico initially adopted a lax policy of border control. Only three years after emerging as an independent nation, Mexico had passed the Immigration Act of 1824, permitting foreign migration into its northern territories. What followed was a concerted and sustained flow of American settlers into Mexican lands. Mexico then became alarmed by the aggressive and hostile nature of the settlers and in 1830 passed a decree curtailing immigration into the Tejas territory. Despite the new law, the flow of Anglo settlers, now consisting largely of unlawful entrants (who today might be called undocumented immigrants), continued unabated. In 1835, the settlers in Tejas declared independence from Mexico. After several battles, including the infamous Battle of the Alamo and the decisive battle at San Jacinto, Texas won independence from Mexico and 2. 2.1. The vice royalty of New Spain, 1786–1821. Source: Reprinted with permission from The Atlas of Mexico (Austin: Bureau of Business Research, 1975), p. 26. Copyright by the University of Texas Board of Regents. 30 A Brief History of Mexico–US Migration Patterns established the Lone Star Republic. Figure 2.2 displays the land Mexico lost during the Texas episode. After the declaration of Texas’s independence, a dispute continued over the location of its southern border. Mexico claimed that Texas territory was bordered by the Nueces River (north of present-day Corpus Christi), while Texas claimed its territory was bounded by the Rio Grande (known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico), about 150 miles farther south. This disputed territory would become very important to the start of the US–Mexican War in 1846 and would be resolved only by the war itself. 2.2. Map of the Republic of Texas, 1836–1846, including land Mexico lost to Anglo settlers (Texas),disputed territory,and lands still held by Mexico.Source: Illustration by authors, based on maps found at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas Annexation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Gadsden_Purchase, and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_territorial_acquisitions. The Treaty Territories 31 TheTreatyTerritories After the loss of Tejas, Mexico wished to avoid further erosion of its territories . A New York newspaper plainly stated: “Let the tide of emigration flow toward California and the American population will soon be sufficiently numerous to play the Texas game.”1 Eager to preserve the remainder of its northern territories, Mexico from 1836 to 1846 undertook a program of deliberately populating the areas that now comprise California and New Mexico. To that end, the Mexican government made large empresario land grants, encouraging Mexicans to move to the northern territories . Consequently, many Mexicans, referred to as Norteños, relocated to the territories of California and Nuevo Mexico. In 1844, James K. Polk...

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