During the early part of the twentieth century, many Mexican nationals came to the United States in search of better wages than they were earning in Mexico under the dictatorial president Porfirio Díaz. During the Porfiriato (the period of Porfirio Díaz’s presidency, 1876–80 and 1884–1911), foreign investors modernized and consolidated many of Mexico’s businesses. Mines were opened and managed by American and European businesses using local labor to operate in often dangerous conditions for incredibly cheap wages. Likewise, farms were often collectively bought up and “shared out” (akin to American sharecropping at the end of the Civil War), and the people working on these lands were paid little in wages or subsistence. The Liberal Party of Mexico, led by Ricardo Flores Magón, began to champion for land reform in 1906 in a movement that would evolve into the Mexican Revolution. However, change was slow to take hold because of Díaz’s strong military as well as the private armies hired by the wealthy elite to protect their investments. This prompted many Mexican nationals to cross the border into Texas and California in the search of better wages working on the railroads and in the fields. For many, the wages were higher, but there were added expenses that made working in the United States almost as unprofitable as working in Mexico. Even when they saved up enough to start their own businesses in the United States, they were often the victims of schemes meant to defraud them of money, and they received little to no mercy from bankers, who often viewed them as financial risks. This experience made some consider a post-revolutionary Mexico a better option, particularly as the Great Depression drove many whites to compete for similar jobs in the 1930s, and a mass repatriation to Mexico occurred.