Mexican Immigration Before and After World War II Essay -- Mexicans Al

Mexican Immigration Before and After World War II Coming from a life of poverty and despair would cause anyone to search for a better life; a life in which there is the belief that all of your dreams can come true. This is the belief that many Mexican immigrants had about â€Å"El Norte,† they believed that the north would provide them with the opportunity that their life in Mexico had not. Many Immigrants believed that the United States was â€Å"the land of opportunity,† a place to find a successful job and live out the life that one only dreamt about living. The North was an open paradise for the immigrants. They were told by the people who had already ventured to the north that the United States was a â€Å"simple life, in which one could live like a king or queen, but in reality immigrants were treated like slaves in the new country that promised them their dreams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most Immigrants who enter the United States are searching for work and the opportunity to live a better life. They are from small towns deep within Mexico that do not offer much opportunity for the people of the town to live a prosperous life and to provide for their family. In the small town of Sierra Mixteco, men women and children arrived in town at various times of the day bent over loads of fire wood gathered from the mountains to sell in the town market. For those who did not sell fire wood, they spent their time making straw hats to sell in the markets of larger towns, both of these jobs only provided pennies a day for the families to survive on. So the stories that the men brought back from the North gave the people of the small towns the hope that a better life did exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was typical for the men to travel to the north first in order to find a job and set up the life for his family. In the town of San Geronimo, 85% of all men over the age of 15 had left the village in search of work in other parts of Mexico and in the United States. The men would make the trip alone and would send the money that they had made to their wives and children back in the village. The trip to the North was long and very dangerous. For the men who entered the country illegally, the trip could even be deadly. For the men who did have some money, they would hire a â€Å"coyote,† a man who would help them cross the border for a price. Sometimes coyotes were legitimate people who sought to help others, while... ... wish come true by finally making it to the North, all of their dreams did not come true. As seen through the decades, there was not an abundance of jobs available to immigrants and those that were available were low paying. Many immigrants simply worked until they had made enough money and then went back home to Mexico. In the fall for example, after the harvest in the valley, families of Mexican and American children would load up and head back to Mexico for weeks and months. School teachers would say, â€Å"What a shame it was that Mexicans did that to their children† (taking them out of school to travel back to Mexico). The life of immigrants was not all that they had expected, many were homesick for their native land, but yet they did not want to convey to their families how depressing life was in the United States; they only shared the good news. The immigrants at first certainly did not have the opportunities they were promised but they did contribute greatly to our national image and wealth. They also filled a large void after the war started and were given skilled jobs in return for stepping up. All information taken from: The American Identity CD www.Wikipedia.org