Recentering Mexico in Mexican Immigration: Guanajuatenses Mobility in the 20th Century

Mexican immigration to the United States has a long history, dating back to before the twentieth century. Moreover, Mexican immigration from the state of Guanajuato has been prevalent throughout the whole of the twentieth... [ view full abstract ]

Mexican immigration to the United States has a long history, dating back to before the twentieth century. Moreover, Mexican immigration from the state of Guanajuato has been prevalent throughout the whole of the twentieth century, yet when thinking about the history of Mexican immigration, we tend to think about the histories of peoples once they arrive to the US. Guanajuato, located in Mexico’s Central West Plateau Region, is one of three major sending states of Mexican immigrants (the others being Michoacán and Jalisco), but why have so many people left their hometowns in Guanajuato throughout the course of the twentieth century when it is not considered a highly impoverished area in comparison to other states in Mexico? What has motivated countless individuals to make the journey north? Furthermore, where are these individuals traveling to in the United States? Who are these individuals traveling north? Are they laborers, students, merchants, political exiles? In this paper I set out to provide a small glimpse into the migration of Guanajuatenses to the US in the twentieth century. Moreover, I intend to show that the histories of Mexican immigrants do not start with their point of arrival. On the contrary, we need to better understand the situations in Mexico in general, and Guanajuato in specific, that led to the migration of so many people throughout the course of the twentieth century. Using passport applications that I uncovered this past summer during research in a local Guanajuato archive, as a jumping off point, I place Guanajuato as a case study to hopefully better understand the history of Mexican immigration. Acknowledging that passport applications might lead to some limitations when thinking about Mexican immigration (who had access to them, who had the literacy skills to fill them out, who was able to obtain a passport, etc.), I believe that they still serve the purpose of providing a window on a micro level that is crucial and beneficial to understanding histories of Mexican immigration. I will also draw on newspaper articles, census records, archival findings, and secondary sources to elucidate Guanajuatense immigration to the US. Histories of Mexican immigration need to strike a balance between what we know about people before, during, and after their journey’s north and thus I hope that we can start this conversation by using Guanajuato as a departure point.