Men from India's Punjab province were among the earliest settlers in the Imperial Valley. Eighteen Punjabi names were reorded in the 1910 census and by 1920 there were 268 Punjabis in Imperial County. When these first East Indian pioneers arrived, their homeland was still under British colonial rule. Because many of them had previous farming experience, the Imperial Valley was a natural choice. They likened the developing area to the Punjab, both in landscape and climate and though it a promising farming country. Holtville, Brawley, El Centro, Calipatria and Imperial were early centers for Punjabi settlement.Many mistakenly generalized the Punjabi as "Hindus"; however, they actually came from all three major East Indian religious sects, Sikh, Moslem, and Hindu--each linked by the common language, Punjabi.
As with many immigrant pioneers, the Punjabi were not immune from racial discrimination. During the mid-1920s federal legislation restricted further Asian immigration, preventing the Valley's Punjabi from sending for their families. Further legislation barred these and other Asian immigrants from attaining United States citizenship. As non-citizens, state laws restricted their right to lease and own agricultural land and to marry across racial lines. Yet these men perservered and made many contributions to the Valley.
As the various discriminatory laws took effect, some Anglo neighbors, bankers and lawyers joined efforts to help the Punjabi men remain in farming. With no Indian women living in the Imperial Valley, they often married women of Mexican descent, producing Punjabi-Mexican biethnic families. Catholicism became the dominant religion of the second generation and most children spoke both Spanish and English, but little Punjabi.
The Luce-Celler Bill was passed in 1946, permitting South Asians to become naturalized U.S. citizens. Not only did this allow many older Punjabi to attain long-desired citizen status, but soon propelled Imperial Valley's Dalip Singh Saund into the United States Congress.
Another important event for the local Punjabi followed in 1947 when British India became two free and independent nations, India and Pakistan. Proud of both their native homeland and their new home, the Punjabi were quick to re-establish meaningful connections with their South Asian relatives.
Recently, new immigrants have come from South Asia, Africa, and England adding to the East Indian community in the Imperial Valley. Although their numbers are relatively small, the Punjabi pioneers and their descendants provide a colorful part of the ethnic picture of the Imperial Valley.