UNITED STATES, August 1, 2021 (Indian Express by Geetika Sharma): When the US government tightened its immigration rules in the early 1900s, Punjabi immigrant workers, mostly men, were unable to bring their wives and families with them. Marriages between whites and people of color had previously been prohibited by anti-miscegenation laws in many states till 1967, and the new immigration regulations were the final nail in the coffin. Mexican women matched Punjabi men perfectly. They had black hair, dark eyes, and had the same skin tone. As county clerks perceived similarities in complexion as indicators of belonging to the same race, it allowed Punjabi men to circumvent anti-miscegenation laws and begin their family life in America.
Under British rule, farmers in Punjab, most of them from land-owning castes, were forced to seek wage labour abroad due to the dismal living conditions in India [then under British rule]. Records from 1907 show that over 6,000 Punjabi men immigrated to the United States via Canada. Though the Alien Land Law of 1913 forbade non-citizens from owning or leasing land, some of the Punjabi men found ways to work around the system and gained control of cotton fields. They began to employ Mexicans, who fled to the US after being displaced by the Mexican revolution. According to author, Karen Leonard, there were approximately 400 Punjabi-Mexican couples in Southwestern America by the 1940s. The new community that sprang up as a result of interracial marriages were called “Mexican-Hindu,” a broad term that wasn’t entirely true as the term Hindu referred to Hindustan rather than the religion. It is estimated that approximately 80 percent of these Punjabi men were Sikhs and the remaining Hindus and Muslims.
Read more of this account here:
https://indianexpress.com/article/research/the-mexican-hindus-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-unique-hybrid-community-7432713/