Have you heard of Punjabi mexicans?

Hi. I am u/giscard78 and I am a descendent of the Punjabi Mexicans of California. My grandfather immigrated to the United States from Punjab, British India in the 1920s, met my grandmother, a Mexican migrant laborer who was the head of her mobile household by the time she was a teenager, and had a (somewhat short lived) family in Southern California.

My grandfather was Muslim and founder of his local Pakistan club. At the time of his immigration, only men from (broader) India could immigrate to the United States and in 1924, immigration was suspended. In the United States, it was illegal for him to own land due to national origin which is pretty detrimental when your occupation is farmer! IIRC, the Alien Land Act was repealed in 1953.

Since there were no women from India, Pakistan, etc. the majority of the men married Mexican women. In literature, you’ll read that it is because the men thought the women to be “similar enough.” What is not written about enough is that many of the marriages, like my grandparents, were for economic reasons. Despite not being able to own land, my grandfather was able to get money to run farms, lease them, and by marrying my grandfather, my grandmother would be able to get her siblings field manager jobs rather than field laborer jobs. My grandfather, like many of the men of his time, passed little to nothing of his culture. When I asked my dad what kind of Muslim his dad was, I was told “he liked beer and cigarettes.”

Anyways, that’s a lot of personal info you didn’t ask for. Have you heard of our group? I grew up in a fairly diverse place with a number of people either from or who had parents from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and elsewhere who had never heard of my group. In my personal experience, many even trouble believing I am a quarter Punjabi. In my opinion, it’s because there are so few mixed people, and more recent immigrant groups are much more conservative, less likely to intermarry, etc. but this will likely change in a generation or two.

If you have any questions, I could try to answer them or ask my dad.

Edit: Dalip Singh Saund, the first Indian and first Sikh in Congress, used to visit the family farm. Mike Mohamed is about the most famous (lol) descendent of the Punjabi Mexicans that I know of.