The 20Th Century to Modern Day Immigration in California

California is notorious for our thriving and booming agriculture industry, captivating landscapes, diverse populations and housing plenty of immigrants, California became the destination spot for immigrants from all over the globe due to California’s promising economy. African Americans and Native Americans faced oppression and degradation.

Immigration in California began to pick up in the early twentieth century with the emergence of the Braceros program. This session saw more than four million Mexican enter the U.S. looking for work and were given farming jobs. Another form of migrants came to situation. Native Americans is degradation. Mexicans, immigrants from Asia populated California. Additionally, the process called “drying out the wetbacks” allowed the U.S. government to locate illegal immigrants working (on farms) and take them back to the Mexican-American border where the immigrants were legalized and sent back to their working place. This helped thousands of Mexicans become legalized but the process stopped shortly after the number of wetbacks exceeded the number of legal Braceros. While the Braceros program did help Mexican workers find jobs, it shed light on a ignored issue: racial discrimination and prejudices. The Mexican immigrants-turned-workers were often handed jobs that American workers didn’t want or found to be too difficult and when performing these jobs, the Mexican immigrants usually received less pay than their American counterparts.

Immigration wasn’t based on Mexicans, immigrants from all over Asia populated California. Once immigrants from Asia received the go sign from America, they flooded in. Once released, these families often found their homes and belongings gone. Shifting from immigrants to migrants, the situation does not get better. African Americans and Native Americans faced brutal oppression and degradation. Meanwhile, Native Americans had been the subject of oppression for hundreds of years now.

Another form of migrants came to light as a result of the dustbowl situation. This horrific weather forced many farmers out of business and drained them of any hope of succeeding in the mid-west so hundreds of migrants from states like Kansas and Oklahoma traveled West, with many arriving in California looking for work.

While history presents a bleak outlook on how we treated immigrants and migrants alike due to racism, the future does appear promising. It is easy to get caught up in the logistics of Immigrating and the legalities of it all but in the end, all immigrants are simply people and seeking the path for the best life for them and their families. And isn’t the goal for everyone? Another form of migrants came to light as a result of the dustbowl situation.

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