Blog #5: Greg's thoughts on U.S Bound Immigration

U.S Bound Immigration:

                  As a high school student working in a Car Wash on the weekends, a couple years ago, I found myself immersed in cultural diversity on my weekends at work. One of the managers of the Car wash was from Ecuador and spoke fluent Spanish and a good amount of English. There were only a few of my friends who also worked there and the rest were members of my manager’s family that I would work with on a week to week basis, all who barley spoke English. Over the 4 years of high school faces from my mangers family would come and go, as they found higher paying jobs or traveled to other parts of the state, country, or headed back home.  I never really understood what was taking place until I arrived in Mexico this past week.

                  The readings for today’s class broke down yet other cultural barriers which have been set in place by the culture in which I was brought up. Up until recently I thought that Mexican’s and people from other nations “jumped the boarder” or came to are country to have better opportunities in our economy. I thought that this was a choice of these immigrants and did not realize that there have been many occasions within the 20^th century in which U.S policy has actually recruited Mexicans to come work in declining work forces during war. In today’s reading, The culture of Migration in Southern Mexico, by J. Cohen, states “Many of migrants worked in industry or for railroads lines and many staying in the U.S for extended period before returning to Mexico. This pattern remained consistent through the First World War and the organization of the first bracero program, which ran from 1917 to 1923. The bracero program supplement U.S labor shortage as the involvement of the U.S in the war increased” (54). Although one would think that this program would be a great opportunity for the Mexicans, however these programs never gave these Mexicans citizenship, so when they were no longer needed they were expected to just pack up and leave the life which they had created in order to make a better life in the United States.

                  Overall the trip to Santa Ana del Valle allowed me to take the history text and connect it to a place and faces. It also helped me to continue to break down stereotypic views of Mexicans who immigrate to the United States. Being able to see a town where these immigrants are leaving to come to the United States was crucial in building knowledge of these people’s situations that they face on a daily basis.