Why are Mexicans considered white in the US?

Mexicans are not automatically considered white in the US, but the confusion comes from how the US Census and federal forms have historically classified race and ethnicity. For many decades, the US Census Bureau defined White as anyone with origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa, and for a period Mexican was not a separate racial category, so Mexican immigrants who had light skin or Spanish ancestry were often counted as White by default. In the 1930 census there was a category for Mexican as a race, but it was removed in 1940 and Mexicans were reclassified as White. Later, the government separated race and Hispanic ethnicity into two different questions, so you can be White and Hispanic, Black and Hispanic, etc. This was partly political and partly because many Mexicans have mixed ancestry including European Spanish, Indigenous American, and sometimes African, known as mestizo, which does not fit neatly into the US Black White Asian Native categories. So on paper, a Mexican person might check White for race and Hispanic for ethnicity. In everyday social life in the US, Mexicans are generally seen as a distinct Hispanic or Latino group rather than simply White, and many Mexicans themselves identify as mestizo, Indigenous, or Hispanic rather than White.