Download Latin America in the United States: Migration and Its (Dis) Contents

LATIN AMERICA IN THE UNITED STATES:
MIGRATION AND ITS (DIS) CONTENTS
By Emilio del Valle Escalante, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
[email protected]
The Question of ‘Illegal Immigration’

1.
2.
3.
My argument is that ‘Illegal immigration’ today—
in reference to people who come from the South
of the Rio Grande—is a problem created by the
United States through its historically conflictive
relationship to Latin America.
The United States – Mexican War (1845-1848)
The United States – Spanish War (1898)
Guatemala 1954
Los Angeles Times

“Latino population approaching that of
whites in California, census data show”
(March 9, 2011).
Hispanic Population in the
United States: 1970 to 2050
Population in millions
102.6
87.6
73.0
59.7
47.8
35.3
9.6
14.6
22.4
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010* 2020* 2030* 2040* 2050*
Census
4
Projections
*Projected Population as of July 1
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Censuses; Population Projections, July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2050
5
6
7
8
Top Five States by Hispanic Growth
Rate: 2000 to 2006
(For states with 100,000 or more Hispanics in 2006)
Rank
State
Growth Rate
(percent)
1
Arkansas
60.9
2
Georgia
59.4
3
South Carolina
57.4
4
Tennessee
55.5
5
North Carolina
54.9
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates July 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006
1. The United States – Mexican War
(1845-1848)
The Treaty of Guadalupe de Hidalgo
Mexico ceded to the
United States Upper
California and New
Mexico… and included
present-day Arizona and
New Mexico and parts of
Utah, Nevada, and
Colorado … Mexico
relinquished all claims to
Texas and recognized the
Rio Grande as the southern
boundary with the United
States (National Archives).
The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
states in 1848 :

Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories
[California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas],
may either retain the title and rights of Mexican
citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the United
States. But they shall be under obligation to make their
election within one year from the date of the exchange
of ratifications of this treaty; and those who shall
remain in the said territories after the expiration of that
year, without having declared their intention to retain the
character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have
elected to become citizens of the United States (Valdez
and Steiner, 102).
Chicanos
‘We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us’
Chicanos


‘Mestizos—a powerful
blend of Indigenous
America with
European-Arabian
Spain’ (Valdez and
Steiner, xiv)
Aztlan as the place of
their origins.
13
2. The United States – Spanish War (1898)


Supported by the U.S.,
Cuba begins its
independence struggles
against Spain in 18851898.
In the consequent battle
again the U.S., Spain will
lose its last colonies in the
hemisphere: Puerto Rico,
Philippines and Guam.

(The struggle to overtake
Guam will later lead to a
new war between the U.S.
and Japan)
2. The United States – Spanish War (1898)
Cuba
Puerto Rico


In 1906 President
Roosevelt recommends
that Puerto Ricans
become U.S. Citizens.
The recommendation
materializes in 1917
with the Jones Act



Treaty of Paris: Cuba
gains its independence
on Dec. 10, 1898.
1901 – 1934 the Platt
Amendment
Guantanamo Bay
Navy
General Smedley Butler (1881-1940)

From “War is a racket” (1935)
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for
American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti
and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank
boys to collect revenues. I helped in the raping of
half a dozen Central American republics for the
benefits of Wall Street. .. I helped purify Nicaragua
for the international banking house of Brown
Brothers in 1909-1912 … I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in
1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard
Oil went its way unmolested. [sic] Looking back on
it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few
hints. The best he could do was to operate his
racket in three districts. I operated on three
continents (“War is a Racket”)
3. Guatemala 1954
The United Fruit Company (UFCO)
Diego Rivera’s ‘Glorious Victory’
United Fruit Company (UFCO)
Allen W. Dulles
Director of the C.I.A (1953-61)
John Foster Dulles
U.S. Secretary of State (1953-9)
3. Guatemala 1954
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
General Castillo Armas
Bill Clinton Stated in 1999:

'For the United States, it is
important that I state
clearly that support for
military forces and
intelligence units which
engaged in violence and
widespread repression
was wrong, and the United
States must not repeat that
mistake.'
Sources:
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Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. New York: Longman, c2000. Print.
Anzaldua, Gloria. Borderlands: The New Mestiza = La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books,
c2007. Print.
Broder, John M. “Clinton Offers His Apology to Guatemala”. New York Times. March 11, 1999.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EFD7163EF932A25750C0A96F958260
Accessed March 20, 2011.
Galeano, Eduardo H. Open Veins of Latin America : Five Centuries of the Pillage of a
Continent. New York: Monthly Review P, c1997. Print.
McCaffrey, James M. Inside the Spanish-American War : A History Based on First-person
Accounts. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., c2009. Print.
Schlesinger, Stephen C., Stephen Kinzer, and John H. Coatsworth. Bitter Fruit: The Story of the
American Coup in Guatemala. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 2005. Print.
“Teaching With Documents:The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo”. United States National Archives.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo/ Accessed: March 15, 2011.
Valdez, Luis, and Stan Steiner. Aztlan: An Anthology of Mexican American Literature. New York,:
Knopf, 1972. Print.
“War is a Racket by Smedley Butler” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_EXqJ8f-0 Accessed:
March 15, 2011.