Naturalizations Of Mexican Americans

A "collection of extracts from ... naturalization documents filed by Mexican immigrants between 1860 and 1950. The applicants came from several states in Mexico, and entered the United States through Texas, Arizona, and California. Extracts from these documents yield important details such as date and place of birth, last foreign residence, names of spouse and children, date and place of marriage, and more. Naturalization records alse reveal the port of entry and the location of the district court where the documents were filed ...." (Back cover).

2013 — NACCS Book Award – National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a majority of the Mexican immigrant population in the United States resided in Texas, making the state a flashpoint in debates over whether to deny naturalization rights. As Texas federal courts grappled with the issue, policies pertaining to Mexican immigrants came to reflect evolving political ideologies on both sides of the border. Drawing on unprecedented historical analysis of state archives, U.S. Congressional records, and other sources of overlooked data, Naturalizing Mexican Immigrants provides a rich understanding of the realities and rhetoric that have led to present-day immigration controversies. Martha Menchaca's groundbreaking research examines such facets as U.S.-Mexico relations following the U.S. Civil War and the schisms created by Mexican abolitionists; the anti-immigration stance that marked many suffragist appeals; the effects of the Spanish American War; distinctions made for mestizo, Afromexicano, and Native American populations; the erosion of means for U.S. citizens to legalize their relatives; and the ways in which U.S. corporations have caused the political conditions that stimulated emigration from Mexico. The first historical study of its kind, Naturalizing Mexican Immigrants delivers a clear-eyed view of provocative issues.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,3, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: The topic of immigration is a thorny issue in the American society. Specifically, the issue of illegal immigration is a burning issue. A record 12.7 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2008, a 17-fold increase since 1970. Mexicans now account for about one third of all immigrants living in the United States, and more than half of them are unauthorized1. Looking at these statistics it is agreeable that Mexicans are representing the most noticeable immigration group in the U.S. and compared to other minority groups are of most greatness to American society. By thinking of Mexican Americans today the most discussed question arises. Are they burden for the country or simply a source of cheap labor? In 2002 the book with intriguing name "The Death of the West" was published and immediately caused contradictory responses and recognition at the same time, connected to the burning issues published in this book. The book is written by the well known American politician Patrick J. Buchanan, the former main adviser of U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and devoted to the analysis of hazards representing deadly threats to the existence of the western civilization. The mass immigration, caused by requirement of labor in the developed countries, is one of those hazards. According to the author the fact that an overwhelming part of the immigrants, coming to these countries, are representatives of other races, religions and cultures can change not only ethnic structure of the population, but also the historically developed shape of the West as a whole, its character and foundations. Mexicans, coming to the U.S., in many cases illegally, represent that mass immigration and because of their high number, raise some doubts in American society, whether they are useful or rather harmful. In this paper I

The Others reconstructs the history of migration and naturalization of foreigners in Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century. Despite never receiving large influxes of foreigners, paradoxically Mexico has applied particularly tight controls on migration and naturalization. Why did it choose to limit the arrival of foreigners when their numbers were so low as a proportion of the total population? In a nation riven by ethnic prejudices and with post-revolutionary governments swift to criticize racial discrimination, what can explain the strong racialization of naturalization and migration policies? First published in Spanish, this award-winning book sheds light on the origins of many migration-related problems still plaguing the Mexican government: irregular migration to the United States, the lack of any genuine control over the arrival and residence of foreigners in Mexico, immigration and naturalization red tape, the authorities’ corruption and arbitrary decisions, racism, and discrimination in its migration policy. These are all issues overlooked by historical research in Mexico and explored in depth for the first time here. This book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Mexican history, borderland studies, and those interested in the relationship between the United States and Latin America.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Kultur und Landeskunde, Note: keine, Universität Kassel, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The topic of immigration is a thorny issue in the American society. Specifically, the issue of illegal immigration is a burning issue. A record 12.7 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2008, a 17-fold increase since 1970. Mexicans now account for about one third of all immigrants living in the United States, and more than half of them are unauthorized . Looking at these statistics it is agreeable that Mexicans are representing the most noticeable immigration group in the U.S. and compared to other minority groups are of most greatness to American society. By thinking of Mexican Americans today the most discussed question arises. Are they burden for the country or simply a source of cheap labor? In 2002 the book with intriguing name “The Death of the West” was published and immediately caused contradictory responses and recognition at the same time, connected to the burning issues published in this book. The book is written by the well known American politician Patrick J. Buchanan, the former main adviser of U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and devoted to the analysis of hazards representing deadly threats to the existence of the western civilization. The mass immigration, caused by requirement of labor in the developed countries, is one of those hazards. According to the author the fact that an overwhelming part of the immigrants, coming to these countries, are representatives of other races, religions and cultures can change not only ethnic structure of the population, but also the historically developed shape of the West as a whole, its character and foundations. Mexicans, coming to the U.S., in many cases illegally, represent that mass immigration and because of their high number, raise some doubts in American society, whether they are useful or rather harmful. In this paper I will compare two controversial issues regarding Mexican immigration group. On the one side I will consider Mexicans as a threat to the United States, on the other side I will count them as an important source of labor, and therefore try to understand their role and current social status in American society today. I will also take a closer look at the historical backgrounds and general facts forcing them to leave their homeland.

How Race Is Made in America examines Mexican AmericansÑfrom 1924, when American law drastically reduced immigration into the United States, to 1965, when many quotas were abolishedÑto understand how broad themes of race and citizenship are constructed. These years shaped the emergence of what Natalia Molina describes as an immigration regime, which defined the racial categories that continue to influence perceptions in the United States about Mexican Americans, race, and ethnicity. Molina demonstrates that despite the multiplicity of influences that help shape our concept of race, common themes prevail. Examining legal, political, social, and cultural sources related to immigration, she advances the theory that our understanding of race is socially constructed in relational waysÑthat is, in correspondence to other groups. Molina introduces and explains her central theory, racial scripts, which highlights the ways in which the lives of racialized groups are linked across time and space and thereby affect one another. How Race Is Made in America also shows that these racial scripts are easily adopted and adapted to apply to different racial groups.

Insightful look at how legal definitions of race and racism perpetuate racial inequality Lily white. White knights. The white dove of peace. White lie, white list, white magic. Our language and our culture are suffused, often subconsciously, with positive images of whiteness. Whiteness is so inextricably linked with the status quo that few whites, when asked, even identify themselves as such. And yet when asked what they would have to be paid to live as a black person, whites give figures running into the millions of dollars per year, suggesting just how valuable whiteness is in American society.Exploring the social, and specifically legal origins, of white racial identity, Ian F. Haney Lopez here examines cases in America's past that have been instrumental in forming contemporary conceptions of race, law, and whiteness. In 1790, Congress limited naturalization to white persons. This racial prerequisite for citizenship remained in force for over a century and a half, enduring until 1952. In a series of important cases, including two heard by the United States Supreme Court, judges around the country decided and defined who was white enough to become American. White by Law traces the reasoning employed by the courts in their efforts to justify the whiteness of some and the non- whiteness of others. Did light skin make a Japanese person white? Were Syrians white because they hailed geographically from the birthplace of Christ? Haney Lopez reveals the criteria that were used, often arbitrarily, to determine whiteness, and thus citizenship: skin color, facial features, national origin, language, culture, ancestry, scientific opinion, and, most importantly, popular opinion. Having defined the social and legal origins of whiteness, White by Law turns its attention to white identity today and concludes by calling upon whites to acknowledge and renounce their privileged racial identity.