Suen 1

Mexican Revolutions Impact on Immigration into the Americas Southwest Borderland:

In depths look into Mexican immigration between the period of 1910-1920

Christopher Suen

HIST 3791
Jordan Lieser
December 10, 2014

Suen 2

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 and continued until 1920 in the interlude
resulting in a state of instability within Mexico. Tragically, the revolution would claim many
lives in the conflict both military and civilian. However, not all of the victims of the revolution
lost their lives. Many Mexicans lost their farms or property during the conflict leaving them
with almost nothing except the clothes they were wearing. As a result, the only option left for
them and many other refugees was to migrate north and immigrate to the United States and settle
in its southwest borderland that was situated right next door to Mexico. The influx of Mexican
immigrants looking for a fresh start and new opportunity in a new country emancipating
themselves from a volatile country found a hostile response from the country they were entering.
America during the 1910s-1920s was slowly becoming anti-immigration its stance on
immigration and the mass exodus of Mexicans entering Americas southwest borderland would
endure discrimination, violence, and pure hatred applied to them ironically in the land of
opportunity. Although they were in a new country safe from the reaches of the Mexican
Revolution, it soon found itself crossing the border into Americas southwest. Mexicans soon
found themselves caught between two wars: the one waging in Mexico and one waged upon
themselves by Americans fueled by anti-Mexican sentiment. Consequently, the Mexican
Revolution caused thousands of Mexicans to flee Mexico and find refuge in the American
southwest hoping to find sanctuary in order to rebuild their lives which was destroyed back in
Mexico. Immigration brought upon by the revolution would cause nothing by grief and
heartache for Mexicans first in Mexico and then in the southwest borderland of the United States
sparing no Mexican from additional pain and suffering.
The southwest border of the United States and Mexico must first be examined before
even covering Mexican immigration resulting from the revolution. The entire border is a length
of almost 2,000 miles stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Containing the
states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Furthermore, while the earlier 20th

Suen 3

century migration restrictions were in place towards Asia and Europe, there were few if any
immigration restrictions concerning the border with Mexico. The border itself was so vast that it
was nearly impossible to monitor its entirety. For instance, according to the Immigration
Bureaus 1903 report, Frank P. Sargent noted that, That the [Mexican] border were largely
unmonitored.1 As a consequence of its largely unmonitored status, the American southwest was
wide open for possible large scale immigration along the salutary neglected border. Without
proper monitoring of the border the risk of unauthorized entry into the U.S was great. Another
report was published in 1906 reaffirming the lack of proper monitoring of the 1900 mile border.
In this report, it stated that 75 immigration officers on horseback cannot possibly properly
monitor for illegal immigration from Mexico along the 1900 mile border. Citing that, Illegal
immigration was [increasing]. Resulting from a lack of funds, men, and facilities2. Without
substantial additional resources, illegal immigration from Mexico would continue on unchecked
and immigration wouldnt be able to stop it. While the main focus of regulations and resources
for immigration was centered on Asia and Europe, the United States completely overlooked their
border with their neighbor to the south. Until more attention was brought to the border situation
and Mexican immigration, immigration officials could not contain the possible mass exodus
from Mexico to the U.S should it ever occur. Due to Salutary neglect of its southern border, the
U.S would be caught ill-prepared for the mass migration of Mexicans that crossed over during
the Mexican Revolution. Consequences would be the hostile response to Mexicans and
Mexican-Americans alike both from the government and also the American citizens living in the
tumultuous borderlands.
When the Mexican Revolution broke out there was conflict throughout Mexico with
1 Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 166.
2 Tichenor, Dividing Lines, 168.

Suen 4

different factions fighting one another for power. In amidst of the fighting, no one was spared
from the destruction of war as many small peasant farmers lost their homes and their lands due to
fighting. With nothing left, many poor farmers and their families had no choice but to trek north
and cross into the U.S to find new means of supporting themselves. The subsequent destructive
nature of the revolution also had a negative impact on the population of Mexico. In 1910 prerevolutionary Mexicos population was around 15,160,000 people and in a November 1921
census after the revolution, the population had decreased to 14,355,000 with an estimated
825,000 either eliminated from the provinces or fled across the border into the U.S.3 The
revolution and its subsequent fighting had dropped Mexicos population by almost five percent.
In addition, the subsequent immigration to the U.S also took with it much of Mexicos
workforce. Pre-revolutionary Mexico in 1910 had an estimated male workforce of about
5,263,000 people. Post-revolutionary Mexicos workforce in 1921 was around 4,883,000 with
an eight percent decrease in workforce.4 The majority of the 400,000workers fled into
the U.S to escape the revolution and to pursue better economic opportunities in the U.S. And
with the workers came their families into the American southwest. The mass migration of
Mexicans into the U.S dramatically increased the population of Mexicans in the U.S by almost
400 percent. A census taken in 1910 displayed around 200,000 Mexicans in the U.S and in 1930
the population had ballooned to well over 800,000.5 The Instability due to the revolution caused
many Mexicans to leave Mexico and cross the border in search of better lives and economic
ventures in the U.S. However, the mass exodus crossing the border entering the American
3 Hector Aguilar Camin & Lorenzo Meyer, In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution:
Contemporary Mexican History, 1910-1989, trans. Luis Alberto Fierro (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1993), 71.
4 Camin & Meyer, Shadow of the Mexican Revolution, 72.
5 Camin & Meyer, Shadow of the Mexican Revolution, 72.

Suen 5

southwest overwhelmed the local communities in the borderlands with the uncontrollable endless
stream of Mexicans. It was as the early immigration reports had feared had come true.
Americas salutary neglect of its southern border, with its lack of resources provided by the
immigration service, resulted in its inability to control or prevent the mass exodus of Mexicans
crossing its border. As a result of Americas lack of attention and preparation concerning its
southern border and Mexican immigration, response to both Mexicans and Mexican Americans
living in the borderlands during the Mexican Revolution would prove to be a difficult experience
because the issues of control, inherent racism via nativism, and victims of the politics of the
time.
Americas southwest borderlands were the center points of the Mexican immigration
and its subsequent response to both Mexicans and Mexican Americans was centered here. Once
quiet, American borderland settlements were all of a sudden areas of huge Mexican immigrant
settlements which quickly became huge areas of anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican sentiments.
The conflict of the Mexican Revolution didnt make matters better, especially when conflicts in
Mexicos northern most provinces spilled over the border and into the U.S. There were instances
of cross border crossings involving castle rustling, raiding and looting, and banditry perpetrated
mainly by Mexican banditos under Pancho Villa.6 The resulting transgressions would result in
American possessor even U.S troops to cross into Mexico to confront the bandits resulting in
bloodshed for both sides. According to Oscar Martinez, the subsequent skirmishes between
Mexico and the U.S in the borderlands region aggravated already strained relations between
whites and Mexicans/Mexican Americans living in the borderlands. Americans were becoming
paranoid concerning the violence and the increasing number of Mexicans crossing the border.
Whites were worried that the Mexicans in the U.S would try and kill all of them and take over
6 Oscar J. Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution: Personal Accounts from
the Border (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983,) 138-139.

Suen 6

the American Southwest. Unfortunately, their fears were realized with the discovery of the socalled Plan of San Diego in 1915. Written by disgruntled Mexicans, it called for, All
Mexicans, Blacks, Indians, and [Asians] to rise up in revolt against the tyrannical U.S. To kill
every white male over the age of 16 in order to establish free republics for Mexicans, Blacks,
Indians, and Asians.7 Outraged by this treacherous plot, many Americans unleashed horrible
reprisals against many Mexican and Mexican Americans both in the borderlands and in Mexico.
Americans began indiscriminately attacking any suspected Mexican they suspected via civilian
mobs, law enforcement, and even by military units. The subsequent discrimination towards
Mexicans affected many U.S business ventures as many of the victims were Mexican laborers
providing labor for American industries via the Bracero program.8 The purpose of the Bracero
program was to provide cheap Mexican laborers for American ventures and industries in the
borderland in order to supply supplement decreased work force shortages as the result of the US
entering WWI. Specific American industries that benefited from the Mexicans laborers were the
American Farm Bureau Federation and southern and western agricultural growers.9 AntiMexican sentiments arose from organizations such as the American Federation of Labor,
veterans from U.S incursions into Mexico, and patriotic societies viewed the Mexicans as taking
away jobs from native whites. They lobbied for the eventual Immigration Act of 1917 which
was the nations first imposed legal immigration restrictions involving Mexicans. These groups
fueled fear into local residents living in areas with significant Mexican and Mexican American
populations in the American southwest. Consequently, as a result of the fear and hatred towards
Mexicans led to indiscriminate targeting of Mexicans and Mexican Americans by Americans, led
7 Ibid., 145-146.
8 Bill Ong Hing, Defining America Through Immigration Policy, (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2004), 121-122.
9 Tichenor, Divinding Lines, 194.

Suen 7

to instances of unproductively in some industries. The arrival of Mexicans escaping the

revolution in Mexico were the victims of American outrage over Mexican revolutionary
transgressions that occurred on U.S soil. Immigration into the United States found Mexicans and
Mexican Americans facing discrimination, hate, and violence waiting for them in the
borderlands. Mexican immigration into the U.S found its immigrants escaping one
frying pan and simply landing into another frying pan.
Many people may believe that the U.S government acted the way it did concerning
Mexico Revolution and their stream of refugees entering the U.S as the result of economic
interest and stability. However, this is not the case as what really came to be the source of the
hostility was the United States inability to control their own border with Mexico. Mexican
immigration into the U.S was obviously different than immigration from Asia or Europe as there
was no body of ocean separating the U.S and Mexico. It is far much easier to restrict
immigration from an ocean away than from a country right next door. America unfortunately
wasnt paying much attention to its southern border nor immigrants coming from that direction
due to more immediate concerns involving other foreigners. Mexicans werent the main
immigrant threat to Americas personal security. The main focus of American immigration
control was focused on immigrants from Asia and Europe such as the Chinese and southern and
eastern Europeans who were considered The Great Fear of the Period.10 As a consequence,
America was too preoccupied with other immigrants to deal with the potential mass wave of
immigration from Mexico as had happened with immigrants coming from Asia and Europe.
American felt vulnerable to the waves of foreign immigrants and wanted to control or stop the
flow of immigrants coming into the U.S. However, the inability to fully curb the arrival of
foreign immigrants would cause great frustration over the failure to end immigration. For
example, this can be seen with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which ended all immigration
10 Hing, Defining America, 24.

Suen 8

to the U.S from China. Unfortunately, the act did not end Chinese immigration into the U.S as
the Chinese simply traveled from China to either Canada or Mexico and simply crossed overland
across the border. Highlighting how the U.S concerned with immigration coming overseas is
too blind to see the potential issue concerning with their land borders with Canada in the north
and Mexico in the south. Chinese crossing over the land borders frustrated the U.S border
officials tasking them to monitor border crossings demonstrated the anger the U.S felt at the lack
of control they possessed over the Undesirable Asian.11 When America couldnt fully control
their land borders with Canada and Mexico concerning a minimal amount of Chinese foreigners
how could America possibly control full scale immigration of Mexicans from Mexico? When
the worst possible scenario occurs in Mexico resulting in a revolution that sends hundreds of
thousands of Mexican refugees fleeing across the border it brings out the worse in the U.S
government concerning their frustrated lack of border control they possess. America beings to
feel threatened when it is not in control of certain matters such as immigration into the their own
country. When Americans in the borderlands feel threatened due to their lack of control over the
border they begin to attempt to regain control of the situation such as in the forms of vigilantism.
Americans both civilian and non-civilian attempted to establish total firm control via outside of
the legal system such as posses organizing to patrol the border and use force to turn away
refugees from Mexico.12 Determined to regain control over its border and the refugees fleeing
from the Mexican Revolution, America would resort to vigilante actions in a nation of laws and
order all just for the sake to regain control of its border. Tragically, mass migrations of refugees
fleeing the Mexican Revolution triggered Americas need to control its affairs concerning the
border. Lacking of total control of the border, would cause America and Americans to become
openly hostile towards Mexican refugees and Mexican Americans living in the borderlands in a
11 Hing, Defining America, 38.
12 Martinez, Fragments of the Revolution, 137.

Suen 9

vain attempt to control its border.

Following with the tradition of immigration into the U.S, Mexicans entering the
country as a result of the Mexican Revolution found themselves the target of inherent racism by
nativists. Like any other racial minority recent immigrants, Mexicans became targets of
abhorrence from native whites whom saw the Mexican Menace as a threat to their
communities. However this was not the case as seen before the revolution broke out in 1910
where many native whites viewed Mexicans as low priority threat concerning them
immigrating to the U.S compared to other immigrant groups from Asia and Europe.13 Mexicans
were considered inferior compared to the whites citing how dimwitted they were and all they
were good for were cheap sources of labor in ranches and farms in the southwest. Native whites
racism towards Mexicans was always present it was just tolerated due to other immigrant
concerns and because there was a few of them whom contributed to the agricultural sector of
American industries. In a quick 180 turn, the passive racism of Mexicans transitioned to
aggressive racism with the eruption of the Mexican Revolution. Many Mexicans lost all they
had in the possessed casualties of the fighting, left them no choice but to migrate north and cross
into the U.S for safety and better opportunities. Earlier it was just Mexican males that usually
crossed over to the U.S to work and usually they returned to Mexico when they had made
enough money. However, what concerned the white residents was now it wasnt just males
coming cover but their wives and children as well. With the intention of permanently settling
in the U.S many whites began to adopt more aggressive nativist stances towards the endless
inferior refugees. Labor unions such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL) were the first
to stoke the flames of racist nativism of whites citing how the mass arrivals of these Mexicans
would mean the loss of jobs for its members and other Native White Americans.14 Using fear
13 Tichenor, Dividing Lines, 170.
14 Ibid., 174.

Suen 10

and xenophobia, the AFL convinced whites feared that the refugees crossing the border would
result in them losing their jobs to immigrants known for working for lower wages. Like other
cases of nativist racism directed at the Chinese, Irish, and Italians, Mexicans were no longer an
exception. The seed of hatred had been implanted into whites living in the borderlands resulting
in aggressive forms of racism such as the use of violence inflicted upon Mexicans including
Mexican Americans whom were born in the U.S. Groups of white mobs anger at the relentless
flow of Mexicans crossing the border began to use violence to express their anger. Mobs would
go around and attack any Mexican they saw blinded by nativist racism even if that Mexican was
American born. In South Texas, white mobs brainwashed with xenophobic nativist racism
directed at Mexicans would go around in lynch mobs hanging any Mexican they saw
sometimes hanging American born Mexican-Americans.15 Tragically, because of misguided
xenophobic nativist racism many Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans were the victims
of tragic violence at the hands of whites. Many refugees fled Mexico escaping from the violence
and death squads hoping to find a better life in America the land of immigrants found only racist
nativism influenced violence waiting for them.
Escaping the from Mexicos revolution for many Mexicans meant that they were no
longer oppressed of the dictatorial policies of a government such Porfiros Diaz or Huertas.
Unfortunately, Americas policies would be just as bad for the Mexicans presenting the subject
of whether the U.S was truly a better option than Mexico. One policy that affected Mexicans
entering the U.S escaping the revolution found themselves the target of the U.S anti-Catholic
sentiment and especially anti-catholic policies in the American Southwest. Unlike the majority
of whites living in the borderlands, many Mexicans entering the U.S were Roman Catholics.
As a result, this brought Mexicans the scorn of the mainly Protestant and Baptist whites living
along the border. In fact, most of the racism and hostility towards the Mexicans and their
15 Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution, 139.

Suen 11

Catholic faith stemmed from Protestant/Baptist Anglo-Americans.16 The extreme dislike of the
recently arrived Mexican Catholics in the borderlands was much similar to the anti-Catholic
views afflicted towards Irish, Italians, and some German immigrants. Protestants disliked the
Catholics from their allegiance to the Pope, their views of the sacraments, and their scriptures.
On a local level, in Brownsville, South Texas white Baptists were upset when recent refugees
from the Revolution settling up a makeshift Catholic Church service that an angry posse was
created and torched the makeshift service and chased the Papists to the Rio Grande.17 AntiCatholic stances and policies on various levels of the U.S government brought Mexican
immigrants escaping from the revolution under similar anti-Church policies infringing on their
Catholic faith. Another policy that Mexicans both immigrants from the revolution and
American-born was the grey-area of segregation in the southwest. During this time period there
was the Jim Crow Laws which dictated segregation between whites and blacks following the
Supreme Court Decision Plessy v. Ferguson which dictated separate but equal facilities for
different races was acceptable. However, Mexicans and Mexican Americans found themselves
in a grey area as they werent black but they werent white either. Instances of quasi-de-facto
segregation was present for Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the borderlands region
especially in South Texas.18 Border towns such as McAllen, Brownsville, and Laredo which
already had Jim Crows in place instituted de-facto segregation for Mexicans where the separate
but equal clause just became common practice concerning Mexicans and Mexican Americans.
Following the trend, Mexicans tended to live in communities within their own culture separating
themselves from the more affluent white neighborhoods. Many of those who fled Mexico during
16 Hing, Defining America, 56.
17 Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution, 241.
18 Martinez, Fragments of the Revolution200.

Suen 12

the revolution had experience with the various class systems in Mexico involving skin tone but
when they arrived in the U.S never thought they would be restricted to such policies concerning
their skin color. Furthermore, the most somber policy Mexicans escaping the revolution and
Mexican Americans had to endure was the policy of law enforcement concerning them most
infamously, the Texas Rangers. Consequences of the mass exodus of Mexicans crossing the Rio
Grande and violent raids being carried out by Mexican banditos on U.S soil resulted in a violent
and bloody response by the Texas Rangers on innocent Mexican immigrants and Mexican
Americans. Especially in South Texas were the Texas Rangers most brutal in regards to their
tactics of quelling rebellion and unrest brought on by the Mexican Revolution and Mexican
immigration. Their acts of barbarism of falsely imprisoning Mexicans and American born
Mexicans without habeas corpus, subsequent torture, and even murder seemed by many as law
enforcement brutality sanction by the Texas government.19 Attempting to control the
immigration, the violence spilling over the border, and civil unrest, Texas Rangers took the
gloves off when it came to dealing with Mexicans and Mexican Americans during the Mexican
Revolution. However, the horrendous atrocities committed by the Texas Rangers and the
apparent lack of legal justice provided by them to Mexicans and Mexican Americans were seen
as, Some Rangers have degenerated into common man killers. There is no penalty for killing;
no jury along the border would ever convict a white man for shooting a Mexican. Reading over
the Secret Service records makes you feel as though there was an open gun season on Mexicans
along the border.20 The lack of habeas corpus and due process provided to Mexicans and more
importantly Mexican Americans by the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies

19 Julian Samora, Gunpowder Justice: A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers, (Notre

Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979).
20 Worlds Work (January 1917); quoted in Rodolfo Acuna, Occupied America: A
History of Chicanos, 2nd edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1981), 308.

Suen 13

reflects the policies imposed on Mexicans and Mexican Americans as the result of immigration
resulting from the Mexican Revolution. The policies imposed of Mexican and Mexican
Americans due to immigration from the Mexican Revolution resulted in targeting of the via
civilians and local law enforcement stripping them of their rights as citizens and as human
beings.
The Mexican Revolution had an adverse effect not just on Mexico but also the United
States as well. The mass exodus of Mexicans migrating to the U.S from Mexico in order to
escape the revolution and establish a better life for themselves as well as their families. The
American southwest borderland found them at the center point of Mexican immigration during
the revolution The earlier neglect and lack of interest by American immigration officials
resulted in the ultimate failure involving the uncontrollable stream of migrants escaping the
revolution. As the Mexican Revolution found itself on American soil, the anger was directed at
the many Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans living in the U.S. The Mexican
Revolution heavily influenced the immigration to the U.S. In addition, it also exacerbated the
issue of control of the U.S border, racism via inherent nativist, and politics concerning both
Mexicans and American-born Mexicans.

Suen 14

Notes
1. Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002,) 166.
2. Ibid., 168.
3. Hector Aguilar Camin & Lorenzo Meyer, In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution:
Contemporary Mexican History, 1910-1989, trans. Luis Alberto Fierro (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 1993), 71.
4. Ibid., 72.
5. Ibid., 72.
6. Oscar J. Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution: Personal Accounts from the
Border (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983,) 138-139.
7. Ibid., 145-146.

Suen 15

8. Bill Ong Hing, Defining America Through Immigration Policy, (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2004), 121-122.
9. Tichenor, Divinding Lines, 194.
10. Hing, Defining America, 24.
11. Ibid., 38.
12. Martinez, Fragments of the Revolution, 137.
13. Tichenor, Dividing Lines, 170.
14. Ibid., 174.
15. Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution, 139.
16. Hing, Defining America, 56.
17. Martinez, Fragments of the Mexican Revolution, 241.
18. Ibid., 200.
19. Julian Samora, Gunpowder Justice: A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers, (Notre Dame,
Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979).
20. Worlds Work (January 1917); quoted in Rodolfo Acuna, Occupied America: A History
of Chicanos, 2nd edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1981), 308.

Suen 16

Bibliography
Acuna, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. 2nd ed. New York: Harper and
Row, 1981.
Camin, Hector Aguilar, and Lorenzo Meyer. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution:
Contemporary Mexican History, 1910-1989. Translated by Luis Alberto Fierro. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1993.
Hing, Bill Ong. Defining America: Through Immigration Policy. Hiladelphia: Temple
University Press, 2004.
Martinez, Oscar J. Fragments of the Mexican Revolution. Albuquerque: University of New
Mexico Press, 1983.
Samora, Julian. Gunpowder Justice: A Reassessment of the Texas Rangers. Notre Dame, Ind.:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
Tichenor, Daniel J. Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2002.

Suen 17