Mexico in the late 1800s and the early decades of the 1900s
was experiencing great change and turmoil. Porfirio Díaz (president from 1876 -
1911) took communally owned land (ejidos) and sold it to large corporations.
Many campesinos or rural farmers were forced into low wage work. Mexico’s
population increased 50% between 1875 and 1910. This resulted in a labor
surplus, inflation and depressed wages. In addition the Mexican Revolution
(1910 - 1920) induced many people and families to move.
The pull of the United State for many Mexicans migrants were
many. There was the rapidly developing agricultural region of the American
southwest. Viable irrigation systems created booms in cotton, citrus and beet
farming. The need for the labor of harvest was met by thousands of migrants.
They sought the higher wages and political stability of America. During the
first three decades of the 20th century the immigrant labor pool
became indispensable.
