There is a rapidly growing Mexican-American population in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As of 2002^[update] people of Mexican origins made up 80% of the Hispanics and Latinos in the DFW area.^[1]

Sol Villasana, the author of Dallas's Little Mexico, wrote that "Mexicans have been part of Dallas since its beginning."^[2] In the 1870s the first significant groups of Mexicans came to Dallas as railroad lines were constructed. Additional Mexicans settled Dallas as a result of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910.^[2]

According to the 1920 U.S. Census, 3,378 Mexicans lived in Dallas.^[3] In the early 20th century, wealthier Mexicans lived in Little Mexico and in the historical red-light area of Dallas north of Downtown, while less wealthy immigrants lived along railroad yards.^[2] Caroline B. Brettell, author of '"Big D" Incorporating New Immigrants in a Sunbelt Suburban Metropolis,' wrote that as of 1920 the majority of Dallas's Mexicans "were living in atrocious conditions."^[3]

After World War II Little Mexico began to disintegrate.^[4]

The Murder of Santos Rodriguez occurred in 1973.

In 2009 the City of Dallas began pursuing an EB-5 investment program, attracting wealthier Mexicans. By 2012 there was a wave of wealthy Mexican immigration, due to the program, the proximity and access of Mexico to North Texas, and the violence of the Mexican drug war.^[5]

As of the 2000 U.S. Census, 71% of the foreign-born residents of Dallas originated in Mexico, as were 64% of the foreign-born residents of McKinney, and 22% of the foreign-born residents of Plano.^[6] 25% Of Foreign Born residents of Carrollton

As of the 2000 U.S. Census, 63% of the ethnic Mexicans in Dallas County resided in the Dallas city limits. Many Mexicans in Dallas live in lower income housing, especially in South Dallas.^[6] As of 2002^[update] the Mexican population lived in various parts of the DFW area, with concentrations in West Dallas, Oak Cliff, and Arlington.^[1]

As of 2000 there was a large group of ethnic Mexicans living north of Arlington in an area south of Interstate 30, and a smaller group in the cities between Dallas and Fort Worth south of U.S. Highway 183.^[6]

As of 2012 there are about 20 daily flights between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Mexico.^[5]

El Fenix, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain, was established by Mike Martinez, a Mexican American. It was established on September 15, 1918. Christina Rosales of The Dallas Morning News wrote that it "has been credited with starting the Tex-Mex craze in the U.S."^[8]

Pizza Patrón, headquartered in Dallas, markets itself to Mexican American families.^[9] It was established by Antonio Swad, a person not of Mexican origins.

• Selena Gomez (actress & singer)^[10] - Raised in Grand Prairie,^[11] lived in Fort Worth^[12]
• Demi Lovato (singer & actress) - Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico; raised in Dallas^[13]
• Omar Gonzalez (soccer player)
• Roberto Marroquin (boxer)
• Fernando Rodríguez (boxer)
• Santos Rodriguez (murder victim)

• Latino Cultural Center
• Demographics of Dallas-Fort Worth

• Brettell, Caroline B. '"Big D" Incorporating New Immigrants in a Sunbelt Suburban Metropolis' (Chapter 3). In: Singer, Audrey, Susan Wiley Hardwick, and Caroline Brettell. Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America (James A. Johnson metro series). Brookings Institution Press, 2009. ISBN 9780815779285. Start p. 53.
• Villasana, Sol. Dallas's Little Mexico (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9780738579795.