The Pershing Chinese, a short overview

In the US, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 forbade absolutely any Chinese immigration for 10 years for both skilled and unskilled labour, and put new restrictions for Chinese citizens already in the country.

After the Exclusion Act expired in 1892, it was extended another 10 years under the Geary Act. In 1902, it was made permanent and continued to regulate immigration until the 1920s when the US Congress repealed all the exclusion acts but left a system of limits and quotas on Chinese immigrants.

Chinese immigrants who ran small businesses were often resented for their success both in the US and in Mexico. Because so few Chinese women immigrated to the Americas, some Chinese men married Mexican women, adding to the already explosive combination of discrimination and racism in both countries.  Chinese Texans (vulnerable to deportation, and barred from becoming US citizens) were frequently targets of persecution by politicians and businessmen who blamed them for poverty and corruption.

In Mexico, some Chinese had supported President Carranza against Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa, and were targets of retaliation by Villa's forces with reportedly whole families killed including Mexican wives.

On 19 March, 1916, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico and the US responded with The Mexican Punitive Expedition.  The US Army was not able at that date to provide logistics for such an expedition so they advertised for labourers in a New Mexico newspaper.  Hundreds of Chinese immigrants responded and quickly cleared brush and set up a military camp

Chinese labourers also provided logistical support supplying hot food, laundry service, soap, towels and other supplies for 10,000 to 12,000 US troops, with 6,675 of these troops moving about 400 miles into remote areas in Mexico.  Also significant was the Chinese practice of boiling water to use in drinks, rather than using untreated water from local water sources.  This likely protected US troops from all manner of waterborne illnesses.

During the campaign, hundreds of Chinese living in Mexico also joined the expedition and supplied additional logistics support.  About 524 (numbers vary in different accounts) Mexican Chinese requested permission to return to the US with Pershing's Army in Feb 1917, fearing reprisal for having supporting Pershing's forces.

In 1919, Pershing, who now had the highest rank ever given to any member of the US armed forces, remembered his Chinese supporters and began a campaign to allow the "Pershing Chinese" to become US legal permanent residents as long as they worked for the US Army, thus helping establish legal precedents for immigrants seeking political asylum.


Sources
Chinese Exlusion Document
Who Were the Pershing Chinese
this Albuquerque Journal article
wikipedia