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You are here: Home / History / How did illegal immigrants from Mexico enter the United States during the early 1900s?

How did illegal immigrants from Mexico enter the United States during the early 1900s?

June 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

The long border with Mexico was only lightly policed in the early 1900s.

With the help of coyotes, or professional smugglers of immigrants, many undocumented Mexicans made it across the border. Some hid in the backs of cars and trucks. Some waded across the Rio Grande, giving rise to the derogatory term “wetback.”

American employers were often happy to give jobs to illegal immigrants. The bosses knew that illegal immigrants fearful of capture would work for even lower wages than legal ones. Employers sometimes hired coyotes to round up a fresh batch of illegal labor.

Some farm owners would cheat undocumented Chicanos of their wages by exposing them to the police after they had harvested the crops but before they had been paid.

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Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « When did Mexican immigration to the United States begin to be restricted?
Next Post: What happened to Mexican Americans during the Great Depression? »

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