The debate over Mexican immigrants and their descendants has included overt racism, economic concerns and humanitarian considerations. Long before Latin American immigration became part of the public consciousness, the image of Mexicans as an uncivilized and detestable race developed. Starting in the early 19th century white Americans began to transfer their Anglo-Saxon dominated worldview and its belief in the inferiority of others from the Africans and Native Americans to the Mexican people who they saw as an impediment to progress. The racism of both sides is evident in their arguments. Politicians argued that Mexicans were slow, lazy and more likely to end up on welfare or commit crimes, while farm owners argued that the lower mental capacity of the Mexican made him ideal for repetitive manual labor in the fields. The result of these racist beliefs was the reparation and deportation movement of the 1930s. Politicians, fearing civil unrest caused by the Great Depression, found a scapegoat in the Mexican and Mexican American populations. Due to an absolute disregard for basic human rights by both sides, thousands of legal and illegal Mexican immigrants fled to Mexico out of fear
