A profile of Chicanos on the basis of key indicators of socioeconomic and political status reveals remarkable gaps between them and the Anglo segment. Chicano incomes are much lower, their educational attainments are inferior, their occupational range is narrow and unfavorable, and their returns on educational attainments are lower. Finally, their access to policy making is negligible. These patterns of political, economic, and social exclusion are the result of the historical application of the mechanisms of internal colonialism. The intentional isolation of Chicanos in the public schools of both the rural and urban Southwest has been a pervasive feature of the region's educational systems for many decades. This educational segregation, whether de jure or de facto, is sustained by official policies and institutional arrangements. This paper outlines the public practices that limit desegregation efforts in communities with large Chicano populations and suggests which community types are most susceptible to attempts at integration. The paper also explores the historical and current consequences for Chicanos of their subordinate ethnic status, and their evolutionary role as a forcibly included population; examines present patterns of social, economic, and political marginality characteristic of Mexican American society; analyzes the mechanisms of internal colonialism; examines the population's adaptive responses to its status as an internal colony; and discusses future problems and implications for public policy. (Author/NQ)