Abstract
In the 19th century, the approach of the United States to immigration control can be characterized as "laissez-faire" with almost no governmental interference in flows that were almost only labor flows. The issue of migration was already in the hands on United States through the role of its farmers and other employers who used to contract Mexicans. The Mass Repatriation Program of 1929-1935 was a turning point in the migration policies with the establishment of compulsory points along the border for the entry of non-citizens and the accusation of felony for previously deported people who would try to reenter the country. The obvious trigger element of such a program was the 1929 crisis which deeply affected the country. Therefore, in the six years following this legislation, hundreds of thousands of Mexican immigrants, and Americans of Mexican descent, were expelled from the country. As it occurs in such a context, the immigrants were often targeted and a strong and popular current of anti-Mexican sentiment spread in the United States.
