Conflicts within Border Towns
Deportation presented a major problem for immigrants but even US born Mexican Americans. By fitting the description of what a Border Patrol officer believed was a person not allowed to be in the US a person could be deported with little issue. Deportation was not standardized a federal level which allowed for the problematic deportation practices to occur as they were up to state and local governments to set precedent. Deportation from San Diego between 1900 and the 1930s saw many American born citizens be deported even though many had never been to Mexico before. Deportation and other immigration policy was closely linked to the American economic state and nativist ideology that was popularized in America during the early twentieth century. Many Americans feared that immigrants were going to create a labor disparity favoring the immigrants. This however was a false narrative pushed to ease American anger toward the American government. The response to this propaganda was deportation operations and creating an unreal fear of security safety. It is also important to note that it was not just the Mexican immigrants who were unjustly deported, but also the Asian immigrants who had came in from the southern border as well. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Asian immigrants were forced to falsely papers or fake identities. While those acts were illegal the Chinese Exclusion Act and deportation based on physical attributes made the procedure of deportation filled with prejudices.