A quiet victory for Latino rights

In 1935 a federal court judge handed down a ruling that could have been
disastrous for Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and all Latinos in the United
States. However, in an unprecedented move, the Roosevelt administration
wielded the power of “administrative law” to neutralize the decision and
thereby dealt a severe blow to the nativist movement. A Quiet Victory for
Latino Rights recounts this important but little-known story.
To the dismay of some nativist groups, the Immigration Act of 1924,
which limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted annually,
did not apply to immigrants from Latin America. In response to nativist
legal maneuverings, the 1935 decision said that the act could be applied to
Mexican immigrants. That decision, which ruled that the Mexican petitioners
were not “free white person[s],” might have paved the road to segregation
for all Latinos.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), founded in
1929, had worked to sensitize the Roosevelt administration to the tenuous
position of Latinos in the United States. Advised by LULAC, the Mexican
government, and the US State Department, the administration used its
authority under administrative law to have all Mexican immigrants—and
Mexican Americans—classified as “white.” It implemented the policy
when the federal judiciary “acquiesced” to the New Deal, which in effect
prevented further rulings.
In recounting this story, complete with colorful characters and unlikely
bedfellows, Patrick Lukens adds a significant chapter to the racial history of
the United States.