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The Mexican Repatriation was the repatriation, deportation, and expulsion of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States during the Great Depression between 1929 and 1939.[1][2][3] Estimates of how many were repatriated, deported, or expelled range from 300,000 to 2 million (40 to 80% of those were citizens of the United States, overwhelmingly children).[4]: fn 20 [5][6]: 330 [7][8]: xiii [6]: 150
Repatriation was supported by the federal government but actual deportation and repatriations were largely organized and encouraged by city and state governments, often with support from local private entities. However, voluntary repatriation was far more common than formal deportation and federal officials were minimally involved.[5] Some of the repatriates hoped that they could escape the economic crisis of the Great Depression.[9] The government formally deported at least 82,000 people,[10] with the vast majority occurring between 1930 and 1933.[5][11] The Mexican government also encouraged repatriation with the promise of free land.[12]: 185–186 [8]
Some scholars contend that the unprecedented number of deportations between 1929 and 1933 were part of a policy by the administration of Herbert Hoover who had scapegoated Mexicans for the Great Depression and instituted stricter immigration policies with the stated intent of freeing up jobs for Americans.[5] The vast majority of formal deportations happened between 1930 and 1933 as part of Hoover's policy first mentioned in his 1930 State of the Union Address.[5] After Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, both formal and voluntary rate of deportation reduced for all immigrants, including Mexicans.[5] The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration also instituted more lenient policies towards Mexican immigrants.[5] Widely scapegoated for exacerbating the overall economic downturn of the Great Depression, many Mexicans lost their jobs.[13] Mexicans were further targeted because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of mestizos, and easily identifiable barrios."[14]
Estimates of the number who moved to Mexico between 1929 and 1939 range from 300,000 and 2 million,[5] with most estimates placing the number at between 500,000 and 1 million.[10] The highest estimate comes from Mexican media reports at the time.[6]: 150 The vast majority of repatriation occurred in the early 1930s with the peak year in 1931.[12]: 49 It is estimated that there were 1,692,000 people of Mexican origin in the US in 1930, which was reduced to 1,592,000 in 1940.[5] Up to one-third of all Mexicans in the US were repatriated by 1934.[14]
Aguila 2007 207–225
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