When did people migrate from Mexico to the US?

Answer 1

Since... forever. Until 1848 all southwestern states including California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas belonged to Mexico. After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) these territories became part of the United States, but there was still free passage between Mexico and the US. That is, until the 1921 Immigration act, when such movement of people became restricted and most immigrants became 'illegals' by definition.

Answer 2

In fact it was the other way around. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, all the territories it possessed included Mexico, most of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica) as well as today's US States of California, Nevada, Utah, Texas and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Due to the extremely low population for such territorial extension (estimated at 12 million during 1824), Mexico relaxed its immigration policies, thus allowing American settlers to help populate the northern territories. The conditions to settle were simple: 1) to pledge allegiance to Mexico and 2) observe the Mexican Law and customs. In 1830, these laws incorporated the banning of slavery. Due to the fact that many American settlers in such territories were slave owners, they looked for any pretext to break up with Mexico, which they did in 1835.

After the US admitted Texas into the Union in 1845, diplomatic relations with Mexico deteriorated, culminating in the Mexican American War (1846 - 1848). After the war, all former states with Mexican population were absorbed into the country as territories.

Immigration back to the United States from Mexico began in the early 1900s to escape Mexican dictatorial policies. Economic migration to the United States begins in the 1920s and greatly increases in the 1950s and 1960s. It has remained relatively consistent since that point, rising and falling with the economic strength of the US.

Answer 3

According to the Pew Research Center, immigration from Mexico peaked during the year 2000, with 770,000 entries into the U.S. for that year. It is also estimated that the highest number of immigrants peaked in 2007, with 6.9 million undocumented immigrants.

Nowadays, only 100,000 Mexican immigrants come to America annually, and 5.6 million illegal immigrants still reside within U.S. soil.