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Chapter 2. Quarantine and Eugenic Gatekeeping on the US-Mexican Border

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Eugenic Nation
This chapter is in the book Eugenic Nation
57In March 1916, Mexicans living in the twin cities of Laredo–Nuevo Laredo on the Texas-Mexican border began to complain loudly to their local consul. They were outraged that the US Public Health Service had started to brand their arms, in permanent ink, with the word admittedafter they had been bathed and physically examined at Laredo’s interna-tional footbridge. Angered as well, the Mexican consul sent a letter to the USPHS asserting that “the American sanitary and immigration authorities are acting against all principles of respect, justice, and humanity, by stamping Mexican citizens, who are looking for work, with indelible ink.”1 The USPHS medical inspector in charge of opera-tions in Laredo, H. J. Hamilton, disagreed, responding that this measure was neither a violation of rights nor an assault on dignity but an action carried out “for their own benefi t.”2 According to Hamilton, the ink branding was necessary to defend Texas from the lice, smallpox, and other germs usually carried by “Mexican paupers,” and in a letter to the US surgeon general in anticipation of denunciations in the Mexican press he described it as a “very good plan” that would help to deter “future illegal entry.”3 Invoking the authority of the governor of Texas and the state’s quarantine laws, Hamilton further contended that aside from introducing infectious diseases into cities and towns, Mexicans were a severe drain on the state’s charity and welfare institutions. Justi-fying the actions of the USPHS as a form of benevolent paternalism, he added that by being so marked, clean and admissible Mexicans were chapter 2Quarantine and Eugenic Gatekeeping on the US-Mexican Border
© 2019 University of California Press, Berkeley

57In March 1916, Mexicans living in the twin cities of Laredo–Nuevo Laredo on the Texas-Mexican border began to complain loudly to their local consul. They were outraged that the US Public Health Service had started to brand their arms, in permanent ink, with the word admittedafter they had been bathed and physically examined at Laredo’s interna-tional footbridge. Angered as well, the Mexican consul sent a letter to the USPHS asserting that “the American sanitary and immigration authorities are acting against all principles of respect, justice, and humanity, by stamping Mexican citizens, who are looking for work, with indelible ink.”1 The USPHS medical inspector in charge of opera-tions in Laredo, H. J. Hamilton, disagreed, responding that this measure was neither a violation of rights nor an assault on dignity but an action carried out “for their own benefi t.”2 According to Hamilton, the ink branding was necessary to defend Texas from the lice, smallpox, and other germs usually carried by “Mexican paupers,” and in a letter to the US surgeon general in anticipation of denunciations in the Mexican press he described it as a “very good plan” that would help to deter “future illegal entry.”3 Invoking the authority of the governor of Texas and the state’s quarantine laws, Hamilton further contended that aside from introducing infectious diseases into cities and towns, Mexicans were a severe drain on the state’s charity and welfare institutions. Justi-fying the actions of the USPHS as a form of benevolent paternalism, he added that by being so marked, clean and admissible Mexicans were chapter 2Quarantine and Eugenic Gatekeeping on the US-Mexican Border
© 2019 University of California Press, Berkeley

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations vii
  4. Preface to the Second Edition ix
  5. Abbreviations xvii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Chapter 1. Race Betterment and Tropical Medicine in Imperial San Francisco 28
  8. Chapter 2. Quarantine and Eugenic Gatekeeping on the US-Mexican Border 57
  9. Chapter 3. Instituting Eugenics in California 82
  10. Chapter 4. “I Like to Keep My Body Whole”: Reconsidering Eugenic Sterilization in California 111
  11. Chapter 5. California’s Eugenic Landscapes 139
  12. Chapter 6. Centering Eugenics on the Family 173
  13. Chapter 7. Contesting Hereditarianism: Reassessing the 1960s 205
  14. Conclusion 234
  15. Notes 243
  16. Bibliography 325
  17. Acknowledgments 365
  18. Index 369
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https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520960657-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Illustrations vii
  4. Preface to the Second Edition ix
  5. Abbreviations xvii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Chapter 1. Race Betterment and Tropical Medicine in Imperial San Francisco 28
  8. Chapter 2. Quarantine and Eugenic Gatekeeping on the US-Mexican Border 57
  9. Chapter 3. Instituting Eugenics in California 82
  10. Chapter 4. “I Like to Keep My Body Whole”: Reconsidering Eugenic Sterilization in California 111
  11. Chapter 5. California’s Eugenic Landscapes 139
  12. Chapter 6. Centering Eugenics on the Family 173
  13. Chapter 7. Contesting Hereditarianism: Reassessing the 1960s 205
  14. Conclusion 234
  15. Notes 243
  16. Bibliography 325
  17. Acknowledgments 365
  18. Index 369
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