Necessity is the Mother of Immigration
The title of this essay is especially indicative of modern economics. The supply and demand of Mexican labor is how the entire western United States was mostly built. It almost seems like a wow factor and something to be proud of. But when one looks at it more deeply it becomes very depressing and infuriating. The reason for this is because one begins to realize that it wasn’t by choice, it was more by economic necessity of the Mexicans whom were not allowed a stable home to cultivate a cultural and socioeconomically viable community on either side of the border. To begin to understand this tragic situation, we will look at a description of the push-pull factors (Political unrest and economic development in Northern Mexico as well as the economic development in the U.S.) that caused a steep increase in Mexican immigration to the U.S.
Political unrest was just a minor factor in the high amounts of its people were pushed from central Mexico to northern Mexico, as the war in there encouraged an exodus to a place of refuge, the U.S. What really pushed tens of thousand north was a “transformation to a market economy [that] was promoted by Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911)... Fifteen thousand miles of railroad were built.” The population growth encouraged this push as “small family farms could no longer support the larger number of people... By 1910 Mexico had 22 cities with populations of 20,000-50,000; 5 cities with... 50,000-100,000; and 2 with... more than 100,000” where sixty-eight percent were agricultural workers of the manufacturing labor force. This expansion of northern Mexican states, saw further unsettling political strife as workers fought for their rights and those in charge attempted to oppress; This period was called the Porfiriato. Diaz’s dictatorship flared anger towards the ruling class due to his unfair tactics that undermined the proletariat class voice and was in favor of the bourgeois. One example of this is when on September 26, 1881, the wages of Mexican workers of a Mexican Central Railroad were cut by one quarter. The workers went on strike. Then the local authorities tried to put down the strike and when the mine manager was shot, the mine was put under marshal law. In 1906 strikes all across the manufacturing industry were occurring. One particular case that year happened in the month of July; it involved the Central Mexican Railroad and forty-five hundred of its employees. “Diaz ordered the workers to return to [their] job and backed his order with a show of force.” This unrest created communities in the U.S. In El Paso revolutionaries gathered. Mining bonanzas in Cananea, Nacozari, and other parts of Sonora was an economic push towards the north. It even pushed workers into Arizona. So many Mexicans came into Arizona that a law was passed to get rid of foreign-born Mexicans; and an eight hour maximum work day was enacted. The problem with this is that it cut the wages of the workers by ten percent. When the miners went on strike, Diaz sent a negotiator to supposedly speak on the workers’ behalf but ended up selling them out; the president Abraham Salsido was sent to prison. When he got out of prison he became involved with the political activist group the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM). He was targeted and kicked out of the area for speaking against Diaz. He was deported and sent to prison once again. All of the political unrest involving the era of the Porfitiato was mostly fueled by economic interest and opportunism over the poor. Aside from the push factors out of Mexico by its government instigations, pull factors in the U.S. also took place.
Political unrest was just a minor factor in the high amounts of its people were pushed from central Mexico to northern Mexico, as the war in there encouraged an exodus to a place of refuge, the U.S. What really pushed tens of thousand north was a “transformation to a market economy [that] was promoted by Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911)... Fifteen thousand miles of railroad were built.” The population growth encouraged this push as “small family farms could no longer support the larger number of people... By 1910 Mexico had 22 cities with populations of 20,000-50,000; 5 cities with... 50,000-100,000; and 2 with... more than 100,000” where sixty-eight percent were agricultural workers of the manufacturing labor force. This expansion of northern Mexican states, saw further unsettling political strife as workers fought for their rights and those in charge attempted to oppress; This period was called the Porfiriato. Diaz’s dictatorship flared anger towards the ruling class due to his unfair tactics that undermined the proletariat class voice and was in favor of the bourgeois. One example of this is when on September 26, 1881, the wages of Mexican workers of a Mexican Central Railroad were cut by one quarter. The workers went on strike. Then the local authorities tried to put down the strike and when the mine manager was shot, the mine was put under marshal law. In 1906 strikes all across the manufacturing industry were occurring. One particular case that year happened in the month of July; it involved the Central Mexican Railroad and forty-five hundred of its employees. “Diaz ordered the workers to return to [their] job and backed his order with a show of force.” This unrest created communities in the U.S. In El Paso revolutionaries gathered. Mining bonanzas in Cananea, Nacozari, and other parts of Sonora was an economic push towards the north. It even pushed workers into Arizona. So many Mexicans came into Arizona that a law was passed to get rid of foreign-born Mexicans; and an eight hour maximum work day was enacted. The problem with this is that it cut the wages of the workers by ten percent. When the miners went on strike, Diaz sent a negotiator to supposedly speak on the workers’ behalf but ended up selling them out; the president Abraham Salsido was sent to prison. When he got out of prison he became involved with the political activist group the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM). He was targeted and kicked out of the area for speaking against Diaz. He was deported and sent to prison once again. All of the political unrest involving the era of the Porfitiato was mostly fueled by economic interest and opportunism over the poor. Aside from the push factors out of Mexico by its government instigations, pull factors in the U.S. also took place.
The pull factors in the U.S. mainly dealt with economics. So long as it was convenient for the industrial ruling class, they pulled Mexican laborers to the U.S. in order to fill the incredibly expanding industry. Just to show the difference before the economic boom, in 1908 only about 60,000 entered the U.S. and most of them went back after a short period of time. By 1910 over 500,000 would enter to work the jobs that the Americans needed filled. Some companies quadrupled in various states and even began to transport Mexicans into the U.S. The American Sugar Beet Company. The demand for labor was so great that the population in South Texas alone doubled between 1900 and 1920 from around 80,000 to 160,000. After which in half the time, by 1930, it doubled again to over 320,000. There were many cash crops that needed to be picked like, cotton, and sugar beets, but spinach and other vegetables required the most labor. In California, as it was in the Imperial valley, fruit was king; especially citrus. The rate of increase was enormous. Before the reclamation of water in the 1880s the crop was an economy worth 2.8 million a year. After the water projects of the 1890s more labor was needed as the economy in California jumped over four fold to 52 million a year. Then from “1907 to 1920, orange and lemon production in california quadrupled; between 1917 and 1922, cantaloupe production doubled, grapes tripled and lettuce quadrupled.” To put it bluntly, America needed Mexicans. So, Mexicans came as it was a great opportunity to leave the war stricken country and find economic opportunity
Because of political and economic reasons, the working class was pushed to the Northern States of Mexico. In turn, a huge pull for labor in the U.S. caused even further uprooting of the Mexican population as they went where the jobs were. The sad part of it all is that it never allowed for stability of the people to set up roots and create a community that was culturally and economically viable as the ruling classes played favorites for themselves. The problem with this is that the cause is still affecting the ethnically Mexican population today. It has affected my grand parents. It has affected my parents. It has affected my wife and me. And I’m sure my children will not be the exception, especially now with the economic instability that the world is facing. It all comes down to the fact that we will continue to go where the jobs are, the public educational system’s budget is being undercut (which is the only way most Mexican families in the U.S. are educated), jobs that have been traditionally occupied by Mexicans are practically gone, and those that do find jobs are being exploited as their wages go down for they have no choice but to take the job in order to survive. Furthermore, the idea of thriving has become a delusion that isn’t even considered. Now that we are no longer needed, history has shown us that things are done through law and physical force to keep out new Mexicans and kick out the existing laborers. The saddest part of this abusive relationship is that when they do need us again, we will come back for more abuse.
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