The Effects of the Mexican Repatriation
What was the Mexican Repatriation?
- Forced deportation of 2 million people of Mexican descent
- 60% of the people who were deported were American citizens of Mexican descent (America's Forgotten History Of Mexican-American ‘Repatriation’)
- Significantly due to the Great Depression
Family History
The Mexican Government
The Deportation
- Great-grandfather immigrated to U.S. in 1920
- Appeared to welcome repatriates
- Mexicans brutally and fearfully forced out of the United States
- Mexico's government was poorly run
- Established the Bureau of Repatriation “to handle returning of countrymen” (Valdés)
- Acquired a good job, however was discriminated against because he was Mexican
- Caused extreme poverty - “Tata remembered not having shoes, having lice, just being dirty, and that they would be able to bathe themselves once every week or so” (Lopez-Pollard)
- More difficult adjusting to society
- Were able to have a standard living in America
- Was executed for selfish reasons
The Great Depression Pt. Two
The Great Depression
- Experienced severe bullying and depression
- Father passed away, mother succumbing to alcohol
- Deportation raids, street sweeps, scare tactics, propaganda, and rumors, all played a significant role in the deportation of Mexicans
- Homelessness, struggled to find work
- Preferred Mexicans to leave "voluntarily"
- Tata returned to the U.S. in 1961
- Mexicans had issues with obtaining Welfare, and were more prone to being accused of committing crimes
Works Cited
The Later Years
The Tread Back to Mexico
- My great-grandfathers boss encouraged them to depart in 1934 - my Tata insists they left voluntarily
- Machine worker at Mother's Cookies
- Traveled back on Repatriation trains
- Married wife, Helma Lopez, and settled in Oakland, California
- "America's Forgotten History Of Mexican-American 'Repatriation'" NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2015/09/10/439114563/americas-forgotten-history-of- mexican-american-repatriation>.
- Balderrama, Francisco E., and Raymond Rodriguez. Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico, 1995. Print.
- Lopez, Daniel. Personal Interview. 23 November 2015.
- Lopez-Pollard, Cristina. Telephone Interview. 27 October 2015.
- "Mexican - Moving to the Cities - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress." Mexican - Moving to the Cities - Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/ presentations/immigration/mexican7.html>
- Valdés, Dennis N. "Mexican Revolutionary Nationalism and Repatriation during the Great Depression." Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos (1988): 1-23. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web.
- Woods, Alan. "The Mexican Revolution: Its Past, Present and Future." In Defense of Marxism. N.p., 14 July 2010. Web. <http://www.marxist.com/mexican-revolution-past-present-future.htm>.
- deprived them of what they worked hard to acquire
- Came to live with my family and me in 2002
- forced them into a country where they would experience extreme poverty