When Chinese Immigrants Came From Mexico

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-Mexico border has longbeen a conduit for undocumented workers. Less appreciated isthat the first migrants weren’t Mexican; they were Chinese.

Starting in the 1850s, tens of thousands of Chineselaborers (many of whom left in violation of their country’semigration laws) were initially sought after in the AmericanWest as a source of cheap labor, especially to build thetranscontinental railroad. They were never welcomed, however,and couldn’t become citizens. When the demand for labor driedup, an anti-Chinese backlash quickly followed.