The assimilation of an ethnic group into society is an important concept to understand when examining the impacts of immigration. More times than not, the public's perception of the new culture is often shaped by the way in which current government policies respond to the new waves of immigration. This is particularly true in the case of Mexican labor immigrants who arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1930. Specifically, the problem at hand was that while the American government in general promoted a restrictive and closed-door policy towards foreign immigration, the enforcement of such policies was selective, especially in the case of Mexican workers. As a result, this left the American public wondering whether these persons were merely temporary workers, or potential citizens. In the end, the inability of the United States government to clearly define and enforce its policies towards Mexicans left the American public wary of the new culture, and thus rallied them to promote an ethnically homogeneous society.
In order to clearly understand why most Anglo Americans became firmly devoted to the idea of an ethnically homogeneous society, it is first necessary to examine the historical policies implemented towards immigration, and the government responses to new waves of culture. By doing so, it will become evident that societal perceptions of new ethnicities are often shaped by interaction between the groups themselves, but also by government policies that directly influence the nature of the relationship. Specifically, the inability of the American government to fully commit to either an open-door policy towards immigration or a restrictive one left the American public in the dark about what to think of ethnic groups like Mexicans, and stimulated racial tension. I will now discuss the ramifications of the government's adopted policies on immigration and how this influenced the Anglo American-Mexican relationship.
