Anti-Mexican sentiment

Anti-Mexican sentiment is prejudice, fear, discrimination, xenophobia, racism, or hatred towards Mexico, its people, and their culture. It is most commonly seen in the United States.

Its origins in the United States date back to the Mexican and American Wars of Independence and the struggle over the disputed Southwestern territories. That struggle would eventually lead to the Mexican–American War in which the defeat of Mexico caused a great loss of territory. In the 20th century, anti-Mexican sentiment continued to grow after the Zimmermann Telegram, an incident between the Mexican government and the German Empire during World War I.

Throughout US history, negative stereotypes have circulated regarding Mexicans and often reflected in film and other media.

Prior to 1854, a significant portion of the western United States, encompassing much of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, was indeed part of Mexico. Through a combination of war, treaties, and land acquisitions, approximately 100,000 Mexicans found themselves under U.S. jurisdiction. In what had once been their homeland, these newly minted Mexican-American citizens encountered racial discrimination, which included the loss of property, meager wages, and instances of lynching. However, during the Great Depression of the 1920s, it is estimated that around 80,000 Mexicans were deported back to Mexico each year, resulting in the fragmentation of Mexican families and communities.

Due to the result of the Texas Revolution (1835-1836) and Texas Annexation (1845), the U.S. inherited the Republic of Texas's border disputes with Mexico, which led to the eruption of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). After the defeat of Mexico, it was forced to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty required Mexico to cede almost half its land to the United States in exchange for 15 million dollars but also guaranteed that Mexican citizens living in ceded lands would retain full property rights and be granted American citizenship if they remained in the ceded lands for at least one year. The treaty and others led to the establishment in 1889 of the International Boundary and Water Commission, which was tasked with maintaining the border, allocating river waters between the two nations, and providing for flood control and water sanitation.

The lynching of Mexican-Americans in the American Southwest has long been overlooked in U.S. history. That may be because the Tuskegee Institute files and reports, which contain the most comprehensive lynching records in the US, categorized Mexican, Chinese, and Native American lynching victims and white as well. Statistics of reported lynching in the United States indicate that between 1882 and 1951, 4,730 persons were lynched, 1,293 of whom were white and 3,437 black. The actual number of Mexicans lynched is unknown. William D. Carrigan and Clive Webb estimate that between 1848 and 1928, at least 597 Mexicans were lynched, of which 64 in areas that lacked a formal judicial system. One particularly infamous lynching occurred on July 5, 1851, when a Mexican woman, Josefa Segovia, was lynched by a mob in Downieville, California. She was accused of killing a man who had attempted to assault her after he had broken into her home.

Law enforcement conducted a considerable amount of these murders; therefore, the malefactors seldom stood trial for lynching Mexican people. Mexicans were lynched for various reasons such as job competition, speaking Spanish too loudly in a public setting, romantically advancing towards white women, acknowledging the Anglo system of cultural difference, and much more.

During the California Gold Rush, right after California became a state of the United States, violence against Mexicans increased. White miners begrudged Mexican people.