History of Mexican
Immigration
To the United
States:
The first noted trends of Mexican immigration to the United States occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century. Originally, the gold rush in California attracted miners from the Sonoran region of Mexico. In 1850, the Foreign Miner's Tax law was passed, forcing foreign miners to pay an additional twenty dollars per month for the privilege of mining in the United States. The law was particularly effective in curbing immigration. By 1856, the brief migration was over.
The next phase of Mexican immigration was stimulated by the Mexican Revolution of 1909-1910. Many Mexicans found work with the railway work force. However, in 1930, the United States once again passed a quota bill that ended the second phase of Mexican immigration.
Another phase with Mexican immigration began with the Brazero Program (Mexico Contract Laborer's). The original plan of this program was to form an agreement between Mexico and the United States in which Mexican workers would be sent to places in the United States that needed agricultural labor. Unfortunately, with this system, only a certain number of immigrants were allowed into the U.S. Tensions between the United States and Mexico began to grow due to this new policy. Many Mexicans were attempting to enter the United States, leaving Mexico in a state of minor chaos. From 1949-1959, the Brazeros increased from 8,500 to 84,000. Finally, opposition from groups such as farm worker's unions, and the Kennedy administration forced the program to close in 1964.
Immediately after the close of the Brazero
program, illegal immigration began in full force. The mass migration utilized a
strip of the border in which 43 million people cross annually, and which has
become classified as the "most heavily traveled border in the
world."
Sources:
Lehman, Jeffrey, ed. Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Gale Group, Michigan 2000.
Thernstron, Stephan, ed. Harvard
Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Belknap Press, Massachusetts 1980.
To Atlanta:
In 1990 in the state of Georgia there were 108,922 Hispanics
accounted for. 57,169 of those Hispanics were situated in Atlanta. Therefore
over 50% of all Hispanics in Georgia lived in the metropolis of Atlanta. In
1990, the breakdown of Hispanics in Metropolitan Atlanta was as
follows:
Cherokee: 1,058
Cobb: 9,403
Douglas: 749
Fulton: 13,373
Dekalb: 15,619
Gwinett: 8,417
Rockdale: 594
Henry: 463
Clayton: 3,746
Fayette:
994
By county in metropolitan Atlanta in 1998 the Hispanic population
is as listed:
Cherokee: 3,175
Cobb: 22,024
Douglas: 1,846
Fulton: 23,865
Dekalb: 27,333
Gwinnett: 23,853
Rockdale: 1,423
Henry: 1,657
Clayton: 7,594
Fayette: 2,764
This totals to 115, 534 Hispanics in Metropolitan Atlanta in 1998,
as opposed to 108,922 Hispanics in Georgia in 1990. We see that the population
of Hispanics in all of Georgia in 1990 is smaller than the population of Hispanics
in only metropolitan Atlanta in 1998. This once again emphasizes the surge
in Hispanic immigration throughout the 1990's.
More specifically, according to census data in 1990, Mexicans in the state of Georgia totaled 49,182, and in the United States, as a whole, there were 13,495,938. Unfortunately, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other statistical analyses, combine all Hispanics together, and do not differentiate between ethnicities. This made finding information on specific Mexican immigration to the United States difficult. Based on the abundant information we found while researching our topic, including newspaper articles, websites, statistics, encyclopedias, and our own interviews, we have concluded that Mexican immigration to Atlanta has steadily increased in recent years. We believe that it has increased even more than other Hispanic immigration, because of the ease with which Mexicans can "cross the border." These beliefs are confirmed on our statistics page, where the numbers reveal the tremendous amount of Mexican immigrants in Atlanta.
Sources:
Akioka,
Lorena M, ed. Georgia Statistical Abstract 2000-2001, University of
Georgia Press, Athens, 2000
Bureau of the Census.
1990 Census of Population and Housing; Population and Housing Characteristics
for Census Tracts and Block Numbering Areas. U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington D.C., 1993
Gaquin, Deirdre A., and Katherine A.
DeBrandt, ed. 2000 County and City Extra; Annual Metro, City, and County Data
Book. Bernan Press, Lanham, 2000
LINKS
For further information on Mexicans in Atlanta
and the United States on the internet, here is a page of links: