Mexican American

The ethnonym Mexican American describes United States citizens of Mexican ancestry (14 million in 2003) and Mexican citizens who reside in the US (10 million in 2003). According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in mid 2001, 4.5 million Mexicans were residing illegally in the United States. Mexican Americans account for 64% of the Hispanic or Latino population of the United States. Settlement concentration is mostly in the Southwestern part of the United States, however, there are isolated concentration of Mexican-Americans near the Chicago area and in mostly rural areas in Florida and North Carolina.

History

:Main article: History of Mexican-Americans

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Between 1845 and 1854, the United States

Related Topics:
1845 - 1854

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acquired half of the territory of Mexico. Eighty thousand Mexicans lived in these annexed areas at the time. These new Mexican-Americans often worked as railroad crew, general laborers,

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ranch hands, farm workers, farmers,

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domestic servants and laundresses.

Related Topics:
Domestic servants - Laundresses

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During the Great Depression, the Repatriation Movement caused much hardship for Mexican-Americans.

Related Topics:
Great Depression - Repatriation Movement

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After World War II ended, the Bracero Program was soon introduced. This program made it easier for Mexicans to come to the United States,

Related Topics:
World War II - Bracero Program

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but it often lead them to be exploited by their employers. César Chávez lobbied to end the Bracero Program. Later he helped found the

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United Farm Workers movement.

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According to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, mayor of Mexico City, the main reason there have not been bursts of social unrest in Mexico is due to Mexican migration to the United States. Mexico has been the single largest contributor of immigrants to the U.S. At least four million Mexicans immigrated to the United States in the 1980s: 45% of the nine million immigrants who entered the country. During the 1990s, approximately five million Mexicans immigrated to the United States. In 2000, Mexican immigration is estimated to have been 350,000 and the most recent estimate (2004) is 500,000 per year.

Related Topics:
Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Mayor of Mexico City - Social unrest - 1980s - Immigrant

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The term Reconquista is used by some to describe the notion that some Mexicans or Mexican-Americans wish to return those portions of the United States formerly belonging to Mexico to the control of Mexico. The notion often exists more prevalently as a fear or threat in the beliefs of Americans of non-Mexican ethnicity, yet is an established notion. While immigrants in the U.S. of other ethnic backgrounds had to make a "break" with their home nations as a result of the geographic separation of the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, Mexican-Americans often reside in close geographic proximity to their former home.

Related Topics:
Reconquista - Atlantic - Pacific Ocean

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