U.S. IMMIGRATION HISTORY CROSS-LINKS

 

The Atlantic Slave Trade	Slavery in Colonial North America
Immigration Gateways and Ports of Entry	Chinese Immigration to the United States
European Immigration Before the Civil War	Muslim Immigration to the United States
Late 19th Century immigration	Immigration and Migration

Topics on the Page 

Flag of Mexico 

Recent Information and Historical Overview

 
The Border

 

 Historical Chronology and Important Developments

 

• Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819

 

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848

 

CROSS-LINK: The Mexican-American War

 

• Mexican Immigrants and the California Gold Rush 

 

• Las Gorras Blancas, 1889-1891

 

CROSS-LINK: The Mexican Revolution (1910) 

 

• Mexican Railroad Laborers, 1900

 

• Bath Riots, 1917 
• Carmelita Torres 

 

• Mexican Repatriation, 1930s & 1940s

Bracero Workers Arriving in Los Angeles by train (1942) 

 

CROSS-LINK:  The Bracero Program, 1942

 

• Operation Wetback, 1954

 

• The Secure Fence Act, 2006

 

• Trump's Build a Wall Speech, 2021

 

• Operation Lone Star, 2021

 

•  DeSantis' Anti-Illegal Immigration Legislation, 2023

 

Cross Link: The Latino Civil Rights Movement

 

 

 

 

 

Recent Information and Historical Overview 

Timeline of U.S.- Mexican Relations (by Council on Foreign Relations)

 

Time Article about History of Mexican Immigration to US

Photos and information about the US- Mexican Border from National Geographic

Mexican Immigration in the United States, Migration Policy Institute

 

• In 2014, there were 11.7 million Mexican immigrants in the United States

 

• China and India now provide more immigrants to the United States than Mexico

 

• Link to chart showing Mexican-Born Population Over Time, 1850 to the present

5 Facts About Mexico and Immigration to the U. S., Pew Research Center (February 11, 2016)

More Mexican Immigrants Leaving the U.S. Than Entering, Report Finds, the New York Times (November 19, 2015)

The History of Mexican Immigration to the U.S. in the early 20th Century, Library of Congress

Uneasy Neighbors: A Brief History of Mexican-U.S. Migration, Harvard Magazine (May/June 2007)

Hoover, Truman and Ike: Mass Deporters? from FactCheck.org (July 2010)

 

• Refutes a false claim that 13 million people were deported under these Presidential administrations

 

The Impact of Mexican Maternal Migration on Children’s Future Ambitions

 

First Person Accounts of People who Crossed the Border Illegally

• Stories from individuals who crossed the border and the difficulties they face as being illegal immigrants 

 

• Mother's story of crossing the border and getting caught

 

 

The Border

 

Tijuana, Mexico, right, and San Diego, California

 

This History of the US-Mexican Border VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL6kFmzAPtE 

The Changing Mexico-U.S. Border, from Worlds Revealed: Geography and Maps, Library of Congress


Timeline of the US-Mexico Border from Southern Methodist University


United States-Mexico Borderlands, Smithsonian Education

 

  Interactive Map from USA TODAY

 Historical Chronology and Important Events

 

The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819

 

Primary source document of President Polk's Call on Congress to Declare War on Mexico- Includes an annotation about the document to give context to the time period and prior events leading up to the call for war.

 

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

 

• Granted citizenship to Mexicans living in territory ceded to the U.S. by Mexico after the Mexican War

 

 

 

Mexican Immigrants and California Gold Rush

 

• Dramatic Event Page:  The California and Alaska Gold Rush

 

 

Las Gorras Blancas (The White Caps)

 

• A group of Mexican-Americans living in New Mexico protesting against Anglo-Americans that moved into and took their land following the Homestead Act in 1862.

 

• Las Gorras Blancas rebelled against the Anglo-Americans that were taking their lands by cutting the fences and barbed wire the Anglo- Americans put up to enclose and claim lands. This poster was created to commemorate this group.

 

 Primary source: the Las Gorras Blancas platform

• Important primary source because it shows the encroachment of Anglo-Americans on Mexican-American territory from a Mexican perspective.

 

Mexican Railroad Laborers (1900)

 

• U.S. railroad companies actively recruited Mexican workers to help build railroads after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act limited the Asian worker supply

 

• Estimated that 60 percent of railroad workers at the turn of the century were Mexicans

 

The Bath Riots of 1917: Crossing the US-Mexican Border 

Image: https://nomasep.com/ 

 

Carmelita Torres, known only from the newspapers as “an auburn haired amazon”, was 17 years old when she led women in anti-American rioting that shut down the US-Mexican border.

 

• Her protesting uncovers the story of the US campaign of disinfection and discrimination at the border. The Mexican revolution was ongoing from 1910-1920 and the US entrance into WWI was heightening fears of invasion.

 

• Fueled by fear and the Eugenics movement (attempt to create a genetically and morally superior population), the stereotype of Mexicans as unclean and inferior led to forced fumigation of Mexican immigrants at the US border.

 

• Contract laborers were forced to endure these inspections often as they crossed the border for work. Carmelita Torres defied the order to bathe and led a revolt of women against the toxic baths, inspections, and sexual humiliations on January 28, 1917.

 

Watch, listen, and read to learn more about the US fumigations of Mexican immigrants at the border and about Carmelita Torres as a strong protest leader and what earned her the comparison as “the Rosa Parks of the border”.  

 

https://www.npr.org/2006/01/28/5176177/the-bath-riots-indignity-along-the-mexican-border

 

The dark history of "gasoline baths" at the border

 

The 1917 Bath Riots - HISTORY

 

 Learn more about Women and their active role in the fight for Mexican-American rights here. 

 

Watch a video here to learn more about the Mexican Revolution. 

 

Mexican Repatriation: Mass Deportations of the 1930s and 1940s

 

• During the Great Depression an estimated 1 million Mexicans nationals and American citizens of Mexican descent were forced to leave the United States (60 percent of whom were U.S. citizens)

 

• For more, see America's Forgotten History of Mexican-American Repatriation, from NPR Fresh Air (September 10, 2015)

 

• As well as The U.S. Deported a Million of Its Own Citizens to Mexico During the Great Depression  from History.com

 

• The Fifth Graders Who Put Mexican Repatriation Back into the History Books

 

• An article by the United States INS about the repatriations. 

 

• 2006 California bill to commemorate repatriation from NPR

 

 Primary source newspaper articles from the repatriation

 

Operation Wetback (1954)

 

• 1 million Mexicans were deported or departed under threat of deportation

 

• Lasted only a few months/discontinued after drownings on ships being used to transport people was protested by the Mexican government

 

• Go here for background on Operation Wetback targeting Mexican immigrants

 

• Here are Three Things to Know About Operation Wetback, NPR

 

• See also How the Los Angeles Times Covered Mass Deportations in the Eisenhower era

 

 Here is a video about Operation Wetback  with Professor Miguel Levario.

 

 

The Secure Fence Act (2006)

Fact Sheet on the Secure Fence Act, Bush White House Archives

 

• 700 miles of fencing completed in 2007
• Estimated cost $2.8 million per mile

Fact-Check: Did Top Democrats Vote for a Border Wall in 2006? Politifact (April 23, 2017)

National Labor Relations Board and Mexican Foreign Ministry Sign Letter of Agreement (2013)

• Provides access to information and education regarding rights and responsibilities for Mexican workers and their employers

 

Trump's Build a Wall Speech and Texas, 2016

 

• In Trump's 2016 campaign he promised to "build a wall" on the Mexican American border to keep out illegal immigrants
• In January 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13767, which formally directed the U.S. government to begin wall construction along the U.S.–Mexico border 
• Click here to read Trump's speech 
• 2023 had the highest record of migrant encounters at the border read more here

 

 Explore Trump's Wall with this interactive map here  

 

 

Operation Lone Star, 2021

 

• Texas Believes the border crisis should be controlled by state not federally
• Governor Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, deploying the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to the southern border. 
• learn more here from the Texas government website

 

DeSantis' Anti-Illegal Immigration Legislation, 2023

 

• Senate Bill 1718 (text of the bill)
• Florida Governor bans Illegal Immigrants from getting ID's
• Penalties for those employing illegal aliens
• Penalties for those who help with smuggling
• Hospitals must inform the state of health care cost of illegal immigrants

 

ACLU breakdown and opinion on the bill 

 

 Video: DeSantis to sign law critics refer to as anti-immigration

 

The second Trump presidency's immigration crackdown (2025-present)

 

Human impact of migration policy changes in the US, Mexico, and Central America

 

• Since January 2025, the US closed the major ways to seek asylum (immigration based on fleeing dangerous conditions) at the US border

 

• Immigration policies and lack of humanitarian aid from the US have left many people from Central America in dangerous conditions, with no options for medical care

 

• Many people left their home countries because their lives were in danger, and going back is not an option 

 

4 ways Trump's big bill could change the US immigration system

 

• The Trump administration's bill gives more funds to building a wall and immigration officers

 

• It increases fees immigrants (who are often fleeing their home countries) have to pay 

 

The Supreme Court clears the way for ICE agents to treat race as grounds for immigration stops

 

• The 2025 Supreme Court decision says that ICE can stop and detain people based on their appearance and the language they are speaking, regardless of immigration status

 

• This decision especially affects Hispanic people, who are in high risk of being detained by ICE even if they are citizens 

 

Debunking 5 myths about immigration in the US

 

• All immigrants, including undocumented ones, are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans

 

• Since 2025, most immigrants in ICE detention have no criminal record 

 

• Over 40 years, proven incidents on non-citizens voting were under 0.0001%, and most of those misunderstood voting requirements 

 

• Undocumented immigrants pay sales, income, and property taxes although they cannot benefit from most government programs (like Medicaid and SNAP)

 

• Immigrants often fulfill jobs that not enough Americans want, such as agriculture, construction, and home health aides 

 

 Quiz Question:  Before the second Trump Administration, the Obama administration deported more Mexican immigrants than all other presidents of the 20th century combined?

T

F

Answer: True- During the Obama administration 2.5 million Mexican immigrants were deported from the United States, as a result the number of Mexicans leaving the United States has been greater than those entering since 2009.

 

 

Quiz Questions 2: What was one major impact of the Adams-Onis Treaty on Mexican immigrants living in areas that became part of the United States? 

 

a. They were immediately granted full citizenship and voting rights

b. They were forced to relocate feeper into Spanish-controlled territory

c. They experienced new borders and uncetainty about land ownership and legal status

d. They were completely unaffected beacuse the treaty only impacted trade routes 

 

Answer: They experienced new borders and uncertainty about land ownership and legal status

         Feedback: The treaty gave Florida to the US from the Spain and defined boundaries between the US and Spanish territories. Mexico was still part of Spain in 1819 many of those people would become Mexican citizens after they gained independence in 1821. When the borders shifted, the residents didn't move but the country did. This caused confusion over who controlled thier land, what laws applied, and what rights they had. This lead to the Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo down the road. The Treaty of Adams-Onis was only the start to the border changes that impacted Mexican communities.