Mexican Migrant Farmworkers These Mexican immigrants are harvesting sugar beets in 1937 in northwestern Minnesota. Between 1910 and 1940, when refugees from the Mexican revolution poured across the American border, the Hispanic-American Alliance and other such organizations sought to protect Mexican Americans’ rights against nativist fears and hostility. The alliance steadfastly emphasized Mexican Americans’ desire to receive permanent legal status in the United States. Library of Congress.