Transnational Fight for the Rights of Undocumented Migrants, 1965–86

My talk will examine how Chicano and Mexican activists started to fight for the rights of undocumented migrants in the 1970s.  During this recessionary period, US nativists increasingly tried to close the border and deport those without papers. Despite their efforts, Chicano civil rights organizations managed to make many legal challenges and win reforms on constitutional rights for undocumented migrants, including stop and search, racial profiling, balance of equities for suspension of deportation, and educational rights. Achieving this limited rights facilitated the lives, movement, and educational possibilities of those who lived in the country without proper documentation. On balance, I argue, the Latino community and the nativists fought to a more or less even standoff by 1986, at which point, nativist power increased.

The paper also examines the activism for migrants’ rights that took place outside of the borders of the United States. In small ranchos in Mexico, religious activists distributed literature informing prospective border crossers of their rights abroad. One pamphlet, for instance, told them not to open the door to Border Patrol officials if these did not have a search warrant. In other words, as Chicano organizations gained constitutional rights in the courts, Mexican organizations ensured that individuals knew about them before heading north. Moreover, in Mexico itself, migrant advocates also demanded that the US grant rights to migrants by holding marches to the US Embassy and protesting in Mexico City’s central square. But equally important, these activists also demanded that the Mexican government provide all its citizens with economic rights so that they would not be forced to migrate.