Mexican Migration: Response to U.S Labor Shortages

Since there has been a US/Mexican border, Mexicans have always played a role in the migrant experience. But it was never able to reach a noticeable amount until the beginning of the 20th century. During the second World War, the United States had experienced a tremendous labor shortage due to its economic and military role. With the bulk of its traditionally male industrial and agricultural workforce fighting abroad, the United States was in dire need of a replacement. Realizing that Mexico could provide a large and cheap workforce, the United States signed several economic agreements with the Mexican government to allow Mexicans legal access to U.S jobs. With foreign worker programs, such as the Bracero program being easily available, Mexicans

A social process is defined as the formation of certain groups in another country. All Hispanics experience some form of the social process. Basically, the process first begins in the home country. Under the effects of “Push-Pull factors”, poor Hispanics begin to leave behind the economically undeveloped rural areas of their country and internally migrate to urban areas in pursuit of employment. This is phenomenon is documented heavily in, “Maquilapolis”, as many of the women workers did not originally live in Tijuana but moved from other parts of Mexico. However, most jobs in urban areas are generally low service sector jobs with often abysmal pay. This fact, is often the reason why most Hispanic migrants never consider urban areas to be the end of their migration but the merely the first step. So, while “Push-Pill” factors promote internal migration to urban areas, it is only a part of the broader stage migration process. After collecting enough money in the urban areas, Hispanic migrants them make the next leap for the US border. From there, migrants either work in border towns to collect more money or make the jump right away. Usually these migrants are often only effected by certain factors of social processes because they are often either the first or among the first members of their communities to

For Mexicans, the general reason to migrate is for pure economy reasons. For Cubans and Guatemalans, the main reason is to escape from persecution at home and seek refugee status in the United States. For Indigenous communities, it is generally a combination of the two. But often or not, the poor and unlivable conditions in the home country are just too much to bear. They are often so horrible that not only are men and women willing to face and in some cases, die to reach the United States but, as dramatized in “Victoria para Chino”, so too do the children of migrant parents. Upon crossing the border, many migrants discover that the much-hyped notion that the US is a land of opportunity or plentiful work is not true. Migrants, unlike citizens, have far fewer choices to employment options such as agriculture and service jobs. Generally, these jobs provide low pay and are some of the most economically vulnerable during economic downturns. If a migrant cannot find stable work, he is often forced onto the streets as a jornalero. A jornalero is basically a day laborer that seeks work on street corners. However, this method of work is notorious for its unreliability for work and money that it is often joked that there is only “¡Tres trabajos para toda la pinche ciudad!” (Ordenez pg.44). While