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Bracero Program
After nearly half a century of migration, the Bracero Program marked the first official negotiation between Mexcio and the U.S.. "Braceros" comes from "brazos," the spanish word for "arms". With U.S. workers shipping off to fight, and many farm workers stepping into the industrial jobs, the U.S. needed labor. A fair negotiation was also important to the American image in the face of a war for human rights. Mexico could show support for the Allies, and gain some protection for their laborers -
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U.S. Policy
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Bracero Program Terminated
The termination of the Bracero Program in 1964 began period of a "policy of having no policy" regarding Mexican immigration. The United States had decided that the program was too costly in a time of peace. The border became dangerous and lawless, with gangs of theives waiting to jump potential migrants. The border became an illegal business for others; coyotes, money-transfering and bank conversion services made money off migrants in and out of the border. -
Immigration Reform and Control Act
The IRCA, enacted under Ronald Reagan, was the next progressive piece of legislation regarding Mexican immigrants. It had four points: sweeping amnesty, a program for farmworkers, tighter border control, and sanctions on employers hiring illegal. The first to provisions were successful. While border control made it more difficult to cross, it did not decrease the number of crossings. Although the border control budget had tripled, only 2% was put to use towards the hiring of illegal workers. -
Mexican Government domestic/foreign relations reforms
Despite the IRCA, Mexican immigrants still felt neglected by their own country. During the 1988 Mexican elections, Mexicans in the United States began accusing the PRI of fraud. The Mexican government recognized this as a threat that they'd better clean up their act. Several reforms were implemented. One of these was El Grupo Beta who patrolled the Mexican side of the border and decreased violence there by 90% (Green and Weil, 2007). -
NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement was meant to free up trade between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, and supply a unified labor market. Many Canadians, Americans and Mexicans were immediately critical of the treaty, saying that it would increase job competition in an already difficult market. It treaty also led to an increased flow of illegal immigration: many Mexican subsistence farmers were thrown off their land, and the peso value continued to drop, further limiting its spending power. -
Arizona today
The recent Arizona law, allowing police officers to stop anyone they might "suspect" to be an illegal immigrant, has come up against major protest. Aside from the civilian protests, on the day of Cinco de Mayo celebrations, President Obama announced that he "want[s] to begin work this year" on a new immigration bill. This bill will likely override the decisions made on the state level, a clear demonstration of the tension between state and federal government regarding immigration. -
9/11 and Patriot Act
In 2000 Mexico had a new democratic government. Vicente Fox, a politician from Guanajuato, a state with a long tradition of migrants, became president. He and his Chancellor, Jorge Castaneda succeeded in meeting with President Bush Jr. on September 10, 2001, and the three came to a verbal agreement to push for a new bill. But the next day, NYC's World Trade Center was attacked. Immigration was ignored, and Mexico's first pro-active attempt to improve migration could not come to fruition.
