>>507072441
They never had it. It's one of the biggest historical lies that is told in the modern era, that Mexico had any claim to that land. Their claim was inherited from Spanish colonial claims, which is A) absurd and usual, we didn't do this for example. We did not lay claim to the British Empire when we won our independence, that Mexico laid claim to Spanish colonies they had no control over is absurd. And B) They literally had no administration in those colonies because why? Because the Indians there wouldn't let Mexicans do shit, because the Indians were stronger and used to routinely kick Mexico's ass. The Comanche and Apache were particularly forceful about their anti-Mexicanness. In fact, you can make a strong argument that in the history of mankind there has never lived a group of people who were more anti-Mexican than the tribes of the American southwest. They wanted absolutely fucking nothing at all to do with Mexico or the Mexican government and if you came around them being Mexican they would literally stab you in the chest with a spear, climb down from their horses, grab you by the hair, and slice your Mexican scalp off of your skull with a knife. That is what the Native Americans who had to deal with Mexican colonial claims in the American southwest thought of the Mexican people.