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
>