Border Towns 1900-1930

Concerns With Crossing the Border

The early twentieth century was filled with circular migration with the coming and going of Mexican immigrants. Mexico was home for these men and they just needed to be in a place where they could provide a better life since Mexico was in a state of turmoil. Surprisingly Mexico had a more accurate account of the coming and goings of Mexican citizens entering and leaving the US. The US had an under founded newly formed Border Patrol making containing the southern border a difficult mission. Between the San Diego and Tijuana border it slowly became more militarized as the twentieth century progressed.
The Mexican Revolution and propaganda media created false fear and harsh stereotypes for Mexican immigrants making them more unwelcomed within the US. This presented difficulties for when immigrants wanted to enter at the southern border especially within those major immigration hubs. Immigrants in San Diego were so fearful of the newly militarized border that even a militia was formed to protect themselves and their communities. At one point in the 1920’s there was estimates of 18,000 troops spread throughout the border at San Diego and the surrounding area. While the 1920s was just an introduction to a militarized border the Depression Era pushed those policies even further. At 1920 there was only about 2,800 deportations in the US, but by 1930 that number had exploded to 39,000. Southern California was beta for Operation Deportation with estimates of over 415,000 people being deported between the 1920’s and 1930’s.

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

This page references: