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History of Chicanos and Mexican Americans |
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Hispanic and Latino Americans |
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History of the United States |
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Mexican American history, or the history of American residents of Mexican descent, largely begins after the annexation of Northern Mexico in 1848, when the nearly 80,000 Mexican citizens of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico became U.S. citizens.[1][2] Large-scale migration increased the U.S.' Mexican population during the 1910s, as refugees fled the economic devastation and violence of Mexico's high-casualty revolution and civil war.[3][4] Until the mid-20th century, most Mexican Americans lived within a few hundred miles of the border, although some resettled along rail lines from the Southwest into the Midwest.[5]
With the border being established many Mexicans began to find more creative ways to get across. In the article Artificial Intelligence and Predicting Illegal Immigration to the USA the statistic that "more than half of undocumented immigrants in the USA enter the USA legally and overstay their visas" (Yektansani). This happened all throughout the timeline.
In the second half of the 20th century, Mexican Americans diffused throughout the U.S., especially into the Midwest and Southeast,[6][7] though the groups' largest population centers remain in California and Texas.[8] During this period, Mexican-Americans campaigned for voting rights, educational and employment equity, ethnic equality, and economic and social advancement.[9]