Mexico:
Throughout the centuries, illegal immigration has not been a major problem in the US. In the last 50 years, the issue of illegal immigration cocerning Mexicans has raised some concerns in the US. The reason for this concern was that Mexicans were violating US government immigration rules. Furthermore, illegal immigration was bringing rapid movement across the borders. Day by day, it becomes much harder to capture illegal immigrants who are currently living in the US.
Another important point were the historical factors with the rapid increase of the illegal immigration. Back in the time period of World War I, it was common for Americans and Mexicans to cross borders without any hassle. In fact, the only big deal the US made over illegal immigration was on Asian (mainly Chinese) immigration.
The main factor of the increased illegal immigration was the lack of power the border patrol exerted towards the Mexicans. Mexicans had an easy time crossing the border. At the time before the Great Depression, Mexicans were considered a great asset for the US economic workforce. Without them, the US would not be able to build railroads or bridges without the cheap labor work of the Mexicans. Plus, the Mexicans were good workers and they were willing to do any type of work for money.
With the Mexicans as an essential tool to the economic workforce, the border patrol had a hard time capturing the immigrants. Furthermore, there were no strict laws that were enforced at that time. Illegal immigration went out of control in the 1940s to 1960s. The number of illegal immigrants cannot be determined by the ones who got captured because of the big population that the Mexicans brought to the US during World War I.
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Source:
Fogel, Walter. Mexican illegal alien workers in US. Los Angeles: Institution of Industrial
Relations, 1978.
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