Emilie:

I live just a few blocks from NARA's main building here in Washington 
DC.  If you give me your father's full information I can try and look 
him up when I am down there next.  I still have not found my 
grandfather's border crossing records either and the people at NARA 
are not very helpful... the records and films are not very easily 
useable and the films are horrible quality as well.  It really makes 
me appreciate the FHC and the quality of LDS films, systems, etc.

--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Emilie Garcia" <auntyemfaustus@h...> 
wrote:
>
> To Michael Gonsalez:
> 
> Thanks for the information you provided to Joseph below.  I had to 
laugh at the part where you say "those of us who are still in the 
early 1900s researching our great grand parents and their brothers 
and sisters".  It made me feel so old.  I am trying to find an 
immigration record for my father. He came from Zacatecas in 1913 
through the border crossing at El Paso TX.  I would so much like to 
see a record of his crossing, but NARA has been no help.  The NARA 
office across the Sound in Seattle said they do not have the films 
for border crossings at El Paso for that period of time.  They said 
that their office in Berkeley, CA or someplace had them.  Since my 
sister was living in San Jose at the time, she went there and looked 
but was not able to complete her search and now she has moved to Las 
Vegas. You said you lived in Ft. Worth.  Might you have a NARA there 
that has the El Paso border crossing records for around 1913?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Emilie Garcia
> Port Orchard, WA  ----. 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Joseph Puentes<mailto:makas@n...> 
>   To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com<mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com> 
>   Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2005 11:56 PM
>   Subject: Re: [ranchos] Help With Questions
> 
> 
>   great. Thanks Michael. I'll have a look and see if I can gleam a 
few questions to ask from this material. Yes I knew about the name 
change but didn't have it handy when I wrote. thanks again.
> 
>   joseph
> 
>   ps: if you're inclined can you make a folder in the "links" area 
of the Group called USCIS (formerly INS) and put the links in this 
email in it with a very brief description? then it will be available 
for later as well thanks
> 
>   Michael Gonzales wrote:
> 
>     Hi Joseph,
> 
>     If you want to see if INS records contain information on where 
an individual comes from you might be interested in the following 
sites.  As you might know, INS is no longer.  The new Agency is the 
US Citizenship and Immigrations Services.  However, the border 
crossing records are still available through NARA.  I have also 
attached some Word documents on the specific records that are 
available and what you can expect to find in them.  There are NARA 
regional sites.  I have one here in Ft. Worth but I believe there are 
six total outside of Washington D.C.
> 
>     Hope this info addresses what you were requesting below and is 
of assistance for those of us who are still in the early 1900s 
researching our great grand parents and their brothers and sisters.  
The links below contain lots of information and you may find that it 
won't be neceessary to interview anyone, at least for now.
> 
> 
>     
http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/index.htm<http://uscis.gov/g
raphics/aboutus/history/index.htm>
> 
> 
>     
http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/articles/MBTEXT.htm<http://u
scis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/articles/MBTEXT.htm>
> 
>     Michael
> 
> 
> 
>       ----- Original Message ----- 
>       From: Joseph Puentes<mailto:makas@n...> 
>       To: LosRanchos<mailto:ranchos@yahoogroups.com> 
>       Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 8:03 AM
>       Subject: [ranchos] Help With Questions
> 
> 
> 
>       okay some have problems with finding out the "Where" in 
Mexico they came 
>       from. I want to eventually get interviews with people in INS 
and Social 
>       Security and other gov't offices to see what information is 
freely open 
>       to the public that might give clues on where in Mexico people 
came from.
> 
>       Can you all email me directly with your thoughts on what 
questions can 
>       be asked of people high up in these organizations. I'd like 
to go 
>       prepared and can only think of these questions:
> 
>       1) With regards to the freedom of information act what info 
is available 
>       to the general public in (their organization).
> 
>       2) On the records that are available what kind of information 
is usually 
>       collected?
> 
>       3) What time periods did these records cover?
> 
>       4) What preliminary work can the information seeker perform 
to 
>       facilitate the look up of records?
> 
>       5) Are there specific forms that need to be used for 
information request?
> 
>       6) Are there costs involved with requesting records? And if 
so what are 
>       they?
> 
>       7) Is the informatin regarding your organization kept at one 
central 
>       location or might one need to contact various geographical 
locations of 
>       your organization to find their specific record needs?
> 
>       8) Can you supply the address of locations on the internet 
where
>            a) the address of each specific information center
>             b) where information requesting forms can be downloaded
>              c)  general contact information can be found
> 
>       Help me with this please. I know I'm forgetting some 
important questions 
>       that I might only have a one time opportunity to ask. What 
would you 
>       like to know about some relative from some gov't organization 
that I 
>       have not listed above?
> 
>       thanks,
> 
>       joseph
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
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> 
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>       
>     b..  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>      ranchos-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com<mailto:ranchos-
unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
>       
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of Service<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>. 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
>

Joseph, 

How about asking if there are official Bracero Program statistics 
from the early 1900s?  I'm sure there must be something because every 
worker was issued an ID card. 
http://www.farmworkers.org/bracero/braceric.GIF

Also, I recommend anyone interested in the subject from a general 
perspective to take a look at the following publication at the 
University of Texas (in Spanish):

http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/uscir/binpapers/v2b-6bustamante.pdf

Here's a quote:

Areas de origen en México

Tres entidades han sido clasificadas consistentemente en los primeros 
lugares como proveedoras de migrantes: Jalisco, Michoacán y 
Guanajuato. A ellas se agregaron Chihuahua, Durango y Zacatecas.
Gamio señalaba en 1930 que el 54.3% de los migrantes mexicanos 
provenía de esos tres estados del centro-occidente de México 
(Michoacán, Guanajuato y Jalisco), siguiéndolos en importancia Nuevo 
León, Durango y el D.F. (Gamio, 1930) (ver Cuadro 1).

It also includes the destination places for most of the Mexican 
migrants.  Interesting.

Victor Villarreal
Reynosa, Mexico


--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, Joseph Puentes <makas@n...> wrote:
>
> 
> okay some have problems with finding out the "Where" in Mexico they 
came 
> from. I want to eventually get interviews with people in INS and 
Social 
> Security and other gov't offices to see what information is freely 
open 
> to the public that might give clues on where in Mexico people came 
from.
> 
> Can you all email me directly with your thoughts on what questions 
can 
> be asked of people high up in these organizations. I'd like to go 
> prepared and can only think of these questions:
> 
> 1) With regards to the freedom of information act what info is 
available 
> to the general public in (their organization).
> 
> 2) On the records that are available what kind of information is 
usually 
> collected?
> 
> 3) What time periods did these records cover?
> 
> 4) What preliminary work can the information seeker perform to 
> facilitate the look up of records?
> 
> 5) Are there specific forms that need to be used for information 
request?
> 
> 6) Are there costs involved with requesting records? And if so what 
are 
> they?
> 
> 7) Is the informatin regarding your organization kept at one 
central 
> location or might one need to contact various geographical 
locations of 
> your organization to find their specific record needs?
> 
> 8) Can you supply the address of locations on the internet where
>      a) the address of each specific information center
>       b) where information requesting forms can be downloaded
>        c)  general contact information can be found
> 
> Help me with this please. I know I'm forgetting some important 
questions 
> that I might only have a one time opportunity to ask. What would 
you 
> like to know about some relative from some gov't organization that 
I 
> have not listed above?
> 
> thanks,
> 
> joseph
>