By the early 1870s, a great depression hit the United States and unemployed Americans blamed the cheap labor of the rapidly growing number of Chinese immigrants. Consequently, the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 barred Chinese laborers from entering, and for those already in the country from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens.
The Chinese in El Paso found illegal means to bring in their countrymen. Chinese were thought to have built tunnels to smuggle Chinese across the Mexican border from Juarez into El Paso.
In 1881, the first 1200 Chinese arrived in El Paso to work on the Southern Pacific Railroad connecting El Paso and California. After construction was completed, some workers moved on to work in other places in the U.S., some returned home to China, but others remained in El Paso. Evidence that a large Chinese community developed in El Paso is seen at the Concordia Cemetery, which has a sizable section for burials of Chinese.
Sam Hing was a Chinese operating in El Paso as a labor contractor recruiting Chinese laborers looking for work on the Southern Pacific work crews. Hing became one of the most prominent, influential, and successful Chinese. By 1900, Hing, having moved to Mexico, was reputed to be worth as much as $15 million.
Hing attributed his financial success to his dedication to work and smart investments. However, he is alleged to have treated the Chinese laborers he hired like slaves so his financial gains were at their expense. Two laborers about to be deported testified about the horrible treatment they received working for Hing.
An El Paso newspaper article written in 1940 about the early days of Chinese in El Paso did not cite the year but noted that Sam Hing eventually moved from El Paso to Mexico with his fortune and married a Mexican woman.

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