Policies Affecting Mexican Americans

1845 to 1942 ACCOMMODATION TO MINORITY STATUS
1945 to 1965 THE ORIGINS OF CHALLENGE
1967 to 1990 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTION

FIRST PHASE: ACCOMMODATION TO MINORITY STATUS

1845 United States annexed Texas, which had declared itself independent of Mexico in 1836
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1853 Gadsden Purchase-additional land bought from Mexico
1924 U.S. Border patrol established
1929-1935 major effort at enforcement of 1924 restrictions, thousands of Mexican Americans and their families repatriated, most without court hearings
1942 Bracero program

SECOND PHASE: THE ORIGINS OF CHALLENGE

1944 War Labor Board ended discriminatory wage rates, siding with the labor union (CIO)
1945 Mendez et al. v. School District of Orange County et al. - federal court ruled segregation of Mexican Americans in public schools illegal
1948 Delgado v. The Bastrup Independent School District - federal court ruled segregation of Mexican Americans in public school illegal
l953 Supreme Court ruled in Pete Hernandez case that the Fourteenth Amendment applied not just to African Americans but to Mexican Americans and others as well
1954 "Operation Wetback" - U.S. Immigration nd Naturalization Service launched massive program to deport illegal Mexican immigrants
1964 Bracero program expired by statute
1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act - first U.S. limitation on the annual number of Western Hemisphere immigrants

THIRD PHASE: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTION

1967 Bilingual Education Act
1968 Elementary and Secondary Education Act
1970 Cisneros v. Corpus Christi Independent School District - court ruled de jure segregation existed and dual school system had to be desegregated
1974 Ethnic Heritage Act

Supreme Court decision in Lau v. Nichols affirmed legal right to education for children with English language problems

1975 Amendment to Voting rights Act of 1965-protected "language groups"
1982 Supreme Court upheld lower court decision requiring Texas to institute bilingual education in case brought by Limited English Proficiency of Mexican-American Youth
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act-amnesty program, employer sanctions, guest-worker program
1990

Immigration Act-continued family reunification preference category [Back]