ng. The labor struggles of the 1920’s proved that Mexicans were neither tractable nor docile. A marked rise in the consciousness of Mexican workers took place. F. Greasers Go Home: Mexican Immigration, the 1920s – Opposition to Mexican immigration came to a head in the 1920s. Reaction toward Mexicans intensified, as their numbers became larger. Industrialist imported Mexicans to work in the mills of Chicago – first as an army of reserve labor and then as strikebreakers. In 1921 when the Depression came the bottom fell out of the economy their was heavy unemployment. During the times of prosperity the Mexicans created hostility but in a time of crises the Mexicans became the scapegoats for the failure of the U.S. economy. Nativist efforts to restrict the entry of southern and eastern Europeans bore fruit with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1921. Many wanted to include Mexicans in the provisions of the act. Things had changed by 1929 and the migration of Mexicans to the United States had considerably slowed down due to the fact that growers and other industrialists joined forces with the department of Sate, Agriculture and Interior and formed a solid front to overwhelm restriction heading off the passage to a bill placing Mexicans on a quota. 7 Mexican American Communities in the Making: The Depression Years A. The Nativist Deportations of the 1930s – After the stock market crash job opportunities dried up and nativism resurfaced with renewed vigor. Even though legal migration slowed down to a minimum during the Great Depression, undocumented Mexicans continue to arrive continuously. Mexicans were unwanted and Euroamentican authorities shipped over 500,000 back to Mexico. A hysterical public treated even Mexican Americans, who were citizens as aliens. At the start of the 1930’s just fewer than 55 % lived in urban centers. Migration to the cities quickened during the next 10 years, as opportunities in a...
