These 20th century photos of Mexican workers being rounded up and sent back highlight how mass deportations from the USA are nothing new
A new exhibition traces a century of recruitment and removal, from the 1930s to the 1950s
In the 1930s, Mexican workers were photographed in a desolate field, their home a makeshift shelter made of scrap materials. These families, who were likely U.S. citizens, were soon to be expelled from the country. The images were captured by Dorothea Lange and her colleagues at the Farm Security Administration as they documented the lives of these workers across California.
Farm workers toiled in the fields of California and Minnesota, with some carrying water and others posing for the camera. Railroad workers, like Trinidad Gutierrez and Molly Alcanto, were also photographed working on the tracks. The photographs serve to showcase the labor force that the U.S. actively sought out during this period.
However, not all of these images are about recruitment. Some depict the mass deportation of Mexican nationals. Men can be seen boarding a train to Mexico, lined up for vaccinations, and detained in camps before their departure. One particularly stark image shows a chain-link and barbed-wire compound at El Centro, California, packed with men held behind the fence, accompanied by a long line of men waiting to board a bus for deportation.
These images span roughly twenty years and have two distinct purposes: documenting the labor force and recording the mass removal of individuals.
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