2025/01/01 by R. Guzmán · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Latin American and Latino Studies
paper · doi:10.5406/19364695.44.2.04
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract This article offers a new history of Mexican repatriation during the Great Depression by focusing on US citizens who returned to Mexico. Using US consular and Department of State files, I argue that ethnic Mexicans who were born in the United States practiced a form of transnational citizenship to demand rights from the US government. From small towns and large cities throughout Mexico, US–born youth, US citizen-parents with children born in the United States, and US citizens married to Mexican nationals visited US consular officials and wrote to US officials, particularly President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the United States, relatives of US citizens and repatriated Mexican nationals also wrote to US officials. Through these letters, US citizens and their allies noted their hardships and affinities to the United States and demanded “the right to return.” While the US government did not provide US citizens of Mexican ancestry with financial assistance to return to their place of birth, US consuls were important intermediaries between family members in the United States and Mexico. In the end, this was a negotiated process, marked by both success and failure.