Lectures in History The U.S. Border Patrol
Feb 16, 2025
Juan Mora, a history professor at Indiana University, dives deep into the U.S. Border Patrol's evolution shaped by 20th-century immigration laws. He discusses the critical impact of key legislations like the 1917 Immigration Act and the 1924 National Origins Act on agency formation. Mora highlights early challenges faced by the Border Patrol, including funding and ethnic tensions, and the complexities of its 100-mile jurisdiction. The conversation also touches on the increasing representation of Latino agents and their motivations to join the force.
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1917 Immigration Act
- The 1917 Immigration Act introduced a literacy test and an $8 head tax.
- Mexican laborers were exempt, setting a precedent for relaxing restrictions when their labor was needed.
Early Border Fences
- Early photos of the Sonora-Arizona border show a highly interconnected community with no physical barriers.
- The first fence, erected around 1919, was more for containing livestock than controlling human movement.
1924 Immigration Act
- The 1924 Immigration Act (Johnson-Reed Act) established numerical caps on immigration based on the 1890 census.
- This aimed to curb Eastern and Southern European immigration while leaving the Western Hemisphere uncapped.