http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/33558029

Decade of betrayal Mexican repatriation in the 1930s

As the Depression engulfed the United States in the early 1930s, fear and anxiety spread that Mexicans were taking jobs and welfare benefits away from "real" Americans. Massive efforts were launched to get rid of the Mexicans--eventually more than a million were shipped back to Mexico. This book appraises the impact of the forced relocation on both sides of the border. Mexicans and their children were repatriated indiscriminately because it was assumed they were a costly burden to taxpayers. However, as the authors painstakingly document, few socio-economic benefits were received by Mexicans at the time. Nonetheless, the anti-Mexican hysteria extracted a horrific toll. In Mexico, the return of migrants and their American-born children sorely strained the social and agrarian reforms initiated by President Lázaro Cárdenas and his predecessors. Prior to this study, scholars had never addressed that aspect of repatriation. By combining extensive archival research with oral history testimony, the authors have created a narrative that blends individual recollections with scholarly interpretation.--From publisher description.

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