Finding Mexico -- in Detroit

‘Over the last decade, I’ve encountered Mexican immigrants from Grand Forks, N.D., to Clinton, Ill. But Mexicans traveling thousands of miles to live in the most maligned city in the United States? ‘No one should be surprised. As early as World War I, thousands of Mexicans came to southeast Michigan in search of work. Though most were drawn to the region’s sugar beet fields, many stayed to join the diverse labor force that served Detroit’s booming auto factories. By the late 1920s, Ford Motor Co. surpassed Inland Steel Co. to become the largest employer of Mexicans in the Midwest.’