English and Mexican Communities in the United States (1920 Census)
This map was created using Tableau. It displays significant English and Mexican communities within the United States, along with their populations. This data was found separately from our main data source, and the numbers came from the United States Census of 1920, meaning it uses population numbers from this year. This map was chosen because it is simplistic in nature yet clearly displays what needs to be shown. The size of each circle represents the size of the population within the cities, and the color represents the community within. One thing that should be noted, however, is that there is also a Mexican community in Chicago, with a population of 20,000, but it is covered by the dot representing the English community. We mustn't just look at the numbers representing these communities, but also where they were located, because of the context it provides.
One specific point about the geographical data in this map is the specific locations of these communities. There are a large number of English communities in the Northeast because a majority of English immigrants came through Ellis Island, which is in New York City. In addition, there were many industrial centers in this area, which many English communities were connected to. In the Southwest, there are a large number of Mexican communities because they immigrated through the Southern border. There were large agricultural centers in the Southwest as well, which is where a majority of Mexicans worked. A majority of these communities were in these locations due to labor-related reasons. Overall, knowing the location of these communities is important to our project because we can see how these agricultural and industrial communities see how they were impacted by deportations. It helps put it into perspective as well, as we can see that the impact of them was felt widely and not in one single area.
Number of English and Mexican Deportations (1900–1921)
From the line graph, we can see that both the deportations of English and Mexicans started relatively slowly, and had a small peak in the year 1910 for both nationalities. Afterward, there was a decline in deportations, and they slowly rose until around 1915, when we began to see a large difference in the trends. For those of an English background, the rate/level of deportations stayed relatively the same, yet deportations of Mexicans had a sharp increase, peaking in 1919, before sharply decreasing and increasing yet again. This opens us up to new questions, such as, “What caused this sharp increase in deportations of Mexicans in 1919?” and “Why were the English deported less at this point compared to Mexicans?”
Reasons for Deportation (English vs Mexican)
From the chart, we can see that the largest value for the reason for deportation for those identifying as English and Mexican was “Likely to become a public charge.” This means that they were unable to support themselves financially and were more likely to rely on government services. From our research, we’ve seen that a significant reason why people were deported was due to economic and labor-related reasons. This being such a large reason for deportation raises more questions, such as what constitutes being labeled “public charge” or if the title was applied lightly.
Reason for Deportation
Looking at the graph itself we can see the difference in the two groups. The top four reasons for UK immigrants to be deported were due to “entered without inspection”, “contract laborers", “convicts/criminals” and “likely to become a public charge”. Compared to Mexican immigrants top four reasons were “contract laborers”, "likely to become a public charge”, “prostitutes”, and "aliens who procure or attempt to bring prostitutes or females”. This is very telling of the attitude towards the different groups. This relates to our project as we want to compare the two groups and the reasoning behind their deportation. We then want to see how this affected their communities and the social impact these deportations had on surrounding communities as well.
Pareto chart of reasons for deportation
The most common reason of the Pareto graph was, “Likely to become a public charge” at roughly 40%. This shows how deportation functioned as an economic gatekeeping mechanism. Officials were seeing migrants through the lens of a financial burden to the country, and saw them as an economic net negative rather than a positive. The second highest category was “entered without inspection” at around 30%, which reflects the increasing regulation of border control in the early 1900s. These two categories alone account for the overwhelming majority of deportations, reflecting how the United States was becoming more strict on their borders and how the new immigrants would need to have a high perceived value before residing in the country. In contrast, some of the smallest categories included “Epileptics,” “Paupers,” and “Feebleminded,” which are historically important because they reflect eugenic and moral classifications common at the time, yet their low percentages demonstrate that these stigmatizing labels were less central in actual deportation outcomes.
While similar to a bar chart, the Pareto chart is beneficial because we can see the percentage contribution to the total reasoning deportations. The orange bars represent the individual value of each reason, and the blue line represents the percent total each bar contributes. If we want to view a specific percentage of deportations occurring, we can adjust the parameters with the slider to view which categories contributed to this value. For example, if we want to look at the reasons for deportation were between 38.9% and 66%, the chart will show that these categories are “Likely to become a public charge,” “entered without inspection,” and “prostitution.” We cannot adjust the parameters to 0% however, because this would mean that no deportations occurred, which is untrue.
Proportion and Scale of Deportations by Nationality (1900–1921)
This chart depicts an area graph comparing the cumulative number of deportations between English and Mexican individuals. While it’s similar to a line graph, the area graph is also beneficial to include because it helps us see the contribution to total deportations per year. The area shaded underneath each point is representative of the contribution to this total. Initially, this graph may be confusing because it may seem as though more English were deported; however, the area underneath the line is smaller, showing that they contributed to a smaller amount compared to Mexicans. By hovering over each data point, we can see the number of deportations for each group. Consistently, we can see that the number of Mexicans deported between 1900-1921 was much higher than the number of English individuals deported.
Human Impact
“You can't undo a deportation.” - Author Attorney Jonathan Shapiro. Between 1900 and 1921, the United States deported thousands of Mexicans and English from their communities. These actions by federal agencies showed a growing sentiment and national effort to control immigration. The government often justifies these actions by citing public concern about economic, social, and welfare issues. These actions were often driven by perceived threats rather than by substantive factual evidence. Deportation policies became incredibly targeted and systematic, going after specific groups such as Mexicans and the English. Within these communities, specifically these deportations created long-lasting effects in millions of people's daily lives; disrupting families, creating feelings of instability, reshaping the workforce, and creating a sense of vulnerability. People lived with the knowledge that any interaction with officials could result in separation from their homes and loved ones. Going beyond the pure numbers and looking at the historical context of this time period through various forms of media allows us to understand how immigration policy uproots and shapes entire communities. The gap between policy intentions and human consequences reveals a crucial hole in how we understand this period of American history.
Policy Shift
The period of deportations between 1900 and 1921 saw a more modernization of immigration enforcement within the United States. These deportations were characterized by the establishment of “deportation arrests” (Nash), allowing enforcing agencies to target non-citizens based on their status. This was different than before, as most were deported for criminal activity. Immigrants were less protected legally against mass removal compared to criminal charges (Gulasekaram). Much of this policy change was due to fears in the American public, many of which surrounded politics and economic conditions (Seller). The fears surrounding economic conditions were devised from concerns that immigration had led to slowed wages of U.S.-born citizens and older immigrant workers (Lauck), leading Congress to enact “restrictive and selective” measures aimed at controlling the “quality” of immigrants that entered the U.S. (Peirce). As time passed, from 1908 onward, there was a shift in deportation reasoning to paperwork violations instead of criminal issues (King); however, wartime anxieties also led to new proposals such as the 1919 Bill (H.R. 13965) that aimed to deport “undesired aliens” for “any offense” (Deportation of Interned Aliens). This system was criticized for breaking apart families (Kellor), which is a large factor that harmed many communities like the English and Mexicans within the U.S. Much of these deportations were due to racial discrimination and happened in communities along the southwestern border, leading to a “historical memory” of vulnerability and a distrust of authorities (Hernandez). Despite all of this, there are some contradictions that exist between the reasoning for deportations. In this period, policy was aimed at reducing economic stress on U.S.-born citizens through slowed immigration and increased deportations; however, many scholars disagree and argue that this change was due to racial discrimination that was heavily prevalent in this period. Although scholars may disagree on the reasoning for the deportations, what can be agreed upon is that they had a significant impact on communities, such as Mexican and English, for better or for worse. Much of what has not been researched surrounding this topic is the impact it has had on the mental health of people within these communities. There are plenty of economic and population data, yet the impact it had on development and its connection to humanistic data may remain unknown.
Project Lens
The significance of our project lies in its ability to connect historical deportation patterns to broader questions about how immigration policy shapes the lived experiences of communities. While scholars have written extensively about the political and economic motivations behind deportations, far less attention has been given to how these policies affected people on a human level—particularly their mental health, family stability, and long-term sense of security. I am working on this topic because I want to find out how the rise of deportation enforcement between 1900 and 1921 changed the daily lives of immigrant communities so that I can help others understand the deeper social and emotional impact behind these historical events. Our data visualizations reveal measurable patterns—such as increases in arrest rates and policy shifts toward “quality control”—that can be linked with meaningful human consequences. By examining deportation through both statistical trends and humanistic perspectives, this project encourages readers to think beyond policy numbers and recognize the lasting psychological and social effects these actions left on Mexican, English, and other immigrant groups. Ultimately, the significance of our work is its effort to bridge quantitative historical data with the lived experiences that are often missing from traditional immigration research.
