Then came the barriers. The barred further immigration from Asia, and the 1922 Cable Act stripped any American woman of her citizenship if she married an "alien ineligible for citizenship." Interracial marriage was also socially taboo and often illegal.
In an era of fierce debates over borders and belonging, the Punjabi Mexican American story is a powerful reminder: “We grew up knowing we were different from both Punjabis and Mexicans. But we weren’t half of anything. We were double.” — A common sentiment among the generation raised in the 1940s-60s.
However, a legal loophole existed: while marriage to a white woman was restricted, marriage to a Mexican woman was not. Mexicans were legally classified as white, and anti-miscegenation laws often specifically targeted Black and Asian-white unions, leaving Mexican-Asian unions in a gray area.