A Brief History of the US-Mexico Border
- In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo establishes the border between Mexico and the US.
- In 1853, the Gadsden Purchase is signed in Mexico City by the US Minister to Mexico (James Gadsden) and the General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, President of Mexico. The treaty gives the US claim to approximately 29,000 square miles of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona. The land is thought to be strategically located for railroad construction.
- In 1900, fewer than 100,000 people live along the border between Mexico and the US. Compare this to the 7 million inhabitants in borderlands communities in 1980, and more than 10 million today.
- Between 1918 and 1933, prohibition happens in the US. There is a great increase in population along the border, related to the traffic of illegal goods.
- Between 1917 and 1919, the First World War causes Mexican immigration to the US to increase, making up for the lack of labor available in the US. After the War, the great debate about migration, continuing to this day, continues in the US.
- Between 1933 and 1940, the world economy enters into the Great Depression. The Mexican government recognizes the growing importance of the border for the national economy, and also becomes aware of an impending crisis: the combination of low commercial activity and continual rapid increases in population. The first economic development programs are created in the borderlands, based on industrialization models and the promotion of greater commerce and interdependence between the US and Mexico. The high uneployment rate in the US eliminates the necessity for Mexican labor and, as a result, there are massive deportations during this era.
- From 1940 to 1949, programs to expand agricultural programs by irrigation begin to increase. These are primarily located in the northern part of Mexico, in the states of Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Baha California, and Chihuahua. In the US, wide development of agriculture begins particularly in southen California. Both trends stimulate the economic growth and the population in the borderlands.
- From 1942-1964, the Braceros program is negotiated and implemented by the US and Mexico. The government of the US acknowledged the need for Mexican labor, particularly in agriculture, because of the scarcity of workings during World War II. The program allows for temporary legal migration in the agricultural sector. It continues after the war because large cultivators and growing agribusiness enterprises thereby have access to cheap and more "flexible" labor (that is, there is little union activity, and other workplace rights are ill respected). The program is suspended in 1964 due to techonological innovations in the agricultural sector, and movements for farmworkers' rights gaining credibility and power (e.g. the United Farm Workers of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta).
- In 1961, the Mexican government creates the National Border Program (PRONAF, Program Nacional Fronterizo) in order to stimulate the economy via commercial and industrial development, and to promote tourism. This is accomplished largely through a focus on enhancing Mexico's infrastructure. Even so, unemployment continues to rise, especially with the repatriation of the braceros in 1964. The majority of the braceros are from the interior of Mexico, but many remain along the border upon returning. The PRONAF program fails.
- In 1965, the Mexican government creates the Program for the Industrialization of the Border (PIF, Programa de Industralizacion Fronteriza) to try again to promote industrialization and increase employment. The birth of the maquiladora is a result of this program. Only along the border in designated free trade zones are foreign businesses allowed land ownership, 100% control, with an exemption from tariffs and taxes. Maquiladoras enjoy other exemption from legal barriers to investment and commerce, including considerable freedom from environmental restrictions. Employment increases as a result and the population also expands. Simultaneously, on the US side of the border the population in the southwest grow as people and business migrates to the sun belt and south of the US.
- In 1982, the debt crisis explodes and general economic crisis hits Mexico. Later the crisis is extended to all of Latin America. The government of President Miguel de la Madrid implements austerity and structural adjustment programs.
- By 1986, the US implements the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), aimed at restricting illegal immigration. It imposes sanctions on employers of undocumented immigrants, and legalizes more than 3 million undocumented immigrants in the US through a massive amnesty effort. 2.3 million of those who are legalized are Mexican citizens.
- In 1987, President Salinas de Gortari begins his presidency in Mexico, and implements a great number of neo-liberal reforms. Many of these are in preparation for NAFTA, and are conditions of Mexico's participation in the free trade agreements. Many economic policies that were formerly exclusive to the borderlands are extended to all of Mexico.
- On January 1, 1994, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) comes into force between Mexico, the US and Canada. The Zapatistas start their extended uprising on the same date.
- In 2000, Vicente Fox takes power as the new president of Mexico. He is the first non-PRI president in over 70 years, which is early on regarded as a sign of change. However, the neo-liberal model continues under Fox's presidency along the same line as with the last three administrations.
- In 2001, Fox proposes the Plan Puebla Panama to extend the model of foreign investment (e.g. maquiladoras) to a corridor of seven southern states in Mexico, including Campeche, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Yucatan). The plan also aims to reach into Central and south America eventually. Fox promotes the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA), an additional free trade agreement that will include the entire hemisphere, except Cuba. Negotiations between pressidents Fox and George W. Bush about a possible new temporary immigration program for Mexican workers are postponed by the events of September 11, 2001. Border security is increased.
