Mexican+Americans

The Mexican Americans were not treated well at all during the 1930s. Even before the Stock Market Crash, Mexican immigrants were looked down upon. The American Federation of Labor was pressured to reduce the number of immigrants and in 1928, US consulates did just that. They pushed the literacy test more than usual to ensure the slowing of legal entry ("Digital History").

The Federal Bureau of Immigration was in charge of deporting Mexican immigrants and Mexican American citizens to Mexico. In 1930, the Bureau posed many intense raids trying to find illegal immigrants for deportation. The secretary of labor, William N. Doak, believed this would "reduce relief expenditures and free jobs for native-born citizens." One such raid occurred in Los Angeles in February of 1930. The police surrounded a downtown park and captured around 400 adults and children. Due to raids, 82,400 people of Mexican heritage were deported against their own will ("Digital History").

In the end, 400,000 repatriados were sent across the border. Many of whom were born in America. Most left due to fear of unemployment, deportation, and loss of relief payments. With this many people leaving, populations everywhere were brought down. For example, the Mexican born population of Texas was reduced by a third and Los Angeles lost a third of its Mexican born population ("Digital History").

Even with the slight aid of the New Deal, many were still left in fear. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired unemployed Mexican Americans on relief jobs. However, most of them did not qualify for relief assistance because they did not meet the residency requirements. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) also had a hand in attempting to help. It created camps for migrant farm hands in California. But, agricultural workers did not receive benefits under worker's compensation, Social Security, or the National Labor Relations Act ("Digital History").