Us mex

U.S. - Mexico

  • Mexican Revolution

    Mexican Revolution
    The revolutionary war to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz, began. The fighting is so close to the US-Mexico border that US citizens are able to watch the fighting. Mexican immigrants start flooding to the US seeking refuge.
  • Pancho Villa Attack

    Pancho Villa Attack
    Francisco "Pancho" Villa leads hundreds of Mexicans in an attack on the U.S. town of Columbus, New Mexico. Seventeen Americans are killed and the town center is burned.
  • Emergency Quota Act

    Emergency Quota Act
    This restricted immigration to the US. Many people from Mexico started trying to illegally make it over the border.
  • President Truman Visits Mexico

    President Truman becomes the first president to go to Mexico, laying a wreath at the foot of the U.S.-Mexican war monument to the Ninos Heroes.
  • Operation Wetback

    Operation Wetback
    Concerned about the growing numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower begins Operation Wetback, a forced repatriation program supervised by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
  • The War on Drugs Begins

    The War on  Drugs Begins
    In September 1969, President Richard Nixon declares a war on drugs and the United States launches an aggressive search-and-seizure counternarcotics operation on the U.S.-Mexico border.
  • Immigration Reform and Control Act

    Immigration Reform and Control Act
    In 1986, the United States passes the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which seeks to crack down on illegal immigration by sanctioning employers who hire illegal immigrants. The law also grants amnesty to 2.7 million illegal workers already in the United States.
  • NAFTA

    NAFTA
    In January 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a trilateral agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
  • Expansion of US Border Patrol

    Expansion of US Border Patrol
    Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. border security intensifies. In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security is created, reorganizing Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
  • Arizona Immigration Law Controversy

    Arizona Immigration Law Controversy
    U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocks the most controversial elements of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, set to take effect July 29. The law included sections that demanded police officers check immigration status while enforcing other laws and required immigrants to prove they were legally in the country.