The 1930s Deportation/Repatriation Campaign in San José

Title

The 1930s Deportation/Repatriation Campaign in San José

Description

In Santa Clara County, Mexicans did not endure the same threats from the Klu Klux Klan that their compatriots in Southern California experienced in the 1920s. However, with the 1924 Immigration Act, pressure was put on the U.S. federal government to establish the first Mexican border patrol.

In Southern California, the Mexican Deportation Campaigns from 1929-1934 further limited immigration. Santa Clara County, however, did not conduct extensive deportation campaigns, although Anglo trade unions tried to do so during the Great Depression. Instead, the Mexican consulate promoted the idea of repatriation to México to help those Mexican nationals who were suffering from the economic fallout from the Depression. As non-citizens, this population was ineligible for state or federal aid. During the 1930s, according to History Unfolded, 400,000-1 million of the nearly two million Mexicans living in the U.S., including American citizens, were either deported or repatriated to México. In San José, one third of the 4,000 Mexican residents chose to return to México in the Mexican government sponsored repatriation campaign.

Additional Online Information

Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California (Mexican Americans)

Invisible Borders: Repatriation and Colonization of Mexican Migrant Workers Along the California Borderlands During the 1930s

The Deportation-Repatriation Campaign Against La Raza

“Repatriation” of Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals continues

Mexican Communities in the Great Depression | Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

INS Records for 1930s Mexican Repatriations | USCIS

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Four: Slide 013