scholarly journals Continuities and Changes in the Processes of Mexican Migration and Return

2019 ◽  
Vol 684 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-226
Author(s):  
Emilio A. Parrado ◽  
Angie N. Ocampo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Border Enforcement ◽  
Dramatic Decline ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Over Time

This article examines continuities and changes in the prevalence and determinants of first migration and return between Mexico and the United States. The results show a dramatic decline over time in the likelihood of migrants’ making a first trip. The empirical design distinguishes processes affecting migrating cohorts from those emanating from period conditions, paying particular attention to changes in educational selectivity and the legal status of the flows. The definition of cohort and period corresponds roughly to changes in U.S. migration policy and the American economy. We find that the likelihood of return migration also declined in conjunction with period conditions that are related to border enforcement. The drop in the likelihood of return was particularly sharp for undocumented migrants, and, over time, return flows increasingly consist of documented migrants. The implications of these findings for immigration policy in the United States and for the incorporation of returnees in Mexico are discussed.

scholarly journals Undocumented and Unwell: Legal Status and Health among Mexican Migrants

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda R. Cheong ◽  
Douglas S. Massey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Return Migration ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Undocumented Migration ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
Mexican Adults ◽  
Using Data

Using data from the Mexican Migration Project, we evaluate the effects of documented and undocumented migration on the health of Mexican adults. Results suggest that documented and undocumented migrants are positively selected with respect to health in migrating to the United States and health status does not strongly predict selection into return migration back to Mexico. Among returned migrants, health deteriorates as the number of trips to the United States increases, with undocumented migrants experiencing an extra health penalty. While there is no continued decline on return to Mexico for undocumented migrants, they fare worse than returned documented migrants.

Debacles on the Border: Five Decades of Fact-Free Immigration Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 684 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Durand ◽  
Douglas S. Massey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Undocumented Mexican Migration ◽  
Trump Administration

Since 1987, the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) has compiled extensive data on the characteristics and behavior of documented and undocumented migrants to the United States, and made them publicly available to users to test theories of international migration and evaluate U.S. immigration and border policies. Findings based on these data have been plentiful, but have also routinely been ignored by political leaders, who instead continue to pursue policies with widely documented, counterproductive effects. In this article, we review prior studies based on MMP data to document these effects. We also use official statistics to document circumstances on the border today, and draw on articles in this volume to underscore the huge gap between U.S. policies and the realities of immigration. Despite that net positive undocumented Mexican migration to the United States ended more than a decade ago, the Trump administration continues to demand the construction of a border wall and persists in treating Central American arrivals as criminals rather than asylum seekers, thus transforming what is essentially a humanitarian problem into an immigration crisis.

The Tradeoff of Temporariness: Economic and Social Impacts of H-2A Status on Mexican Migrant Men

2022 ◽  
pp. 019791832110660
Author(s):  
Shelby O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Mexican Migrants ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Discernible Effect ◽  
Mexican Migrant ◽  
Economic And Social Impacts

As the H-2A visa program expands to become a core component of contemporary Mexican migration to the United States, questions emerge about the tradeoffs migrants face between temporary and undocumented statuses. This article employs propensity score matching of participants in the Mexican Migration Project—an extensive binational survey of Mexican migrants and their families—to compare economic and social outcomes of H-2A visa recipients vis-à-vis undocumented migrants. Findings indicate that although H-2A visas offer benefits like a lower cost of living while abroad, they do not produce a discernible effect on wages relative to wages earned by undocumented migrants. While H-2A migrants are more likely to work in the formal economy, they are also less likely to build social capital or language proficiency in the United States than undocumented migrants, indicating a degree of social isolation that can be exploited by employers. This comparison contributes to a growing literature on the proliferation of temporary migratory statuses and the marginality experienced by migrants within these statuses.

scholarly journals Latinos’ deportation fears by citizenship and legal status, 2007 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (16) ◽  
pp. 8836-8844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad L. Asad
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Over Time

Deportation has become more commonplace in the United States since the mid-2000s. Latin American noncitizens—encompassing undocumented and documented immigrants—are targeted for deportation. Deportation’s threat also reaches naturalized and US-born citizens of Latino descent who are largely immune to deportation but whose loved ones or communities are deportable. Drawing on 6 y of data from the National Survey of Latinos, this article examines whether and how Latinos’ deportation fears vary by citizenship and legal status and over time. Compared with Latino noncitizens, Latino US citizens report lower average deportation fears. However, a more complex story emerges when examining this divide over time: Deportation fears are high but stable among Latino noncitizens, whereas deportation fears have increased substantially among Latino US citizens. These trends reflect a growing national awareness of—rather than observable changes to—deportation policy and practice since the 2016 US presidential election. The article highlights how deportation or its consequences affects a racial group that the US immigration regime targets disproportionately.

Evolution of the Mexico-U.S. Migration System: Insights from the Mexican Migration Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 684 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Durand ◽  
Douglas S. Massey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Undocumented Migrants ◽  
Undocumented Migration ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
Migration System ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Migratory Experience

Since 1987, the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) has collected and disseminated representative survey data on documented and undocumented migration to the United States. The MMP currently includes surveys of 161 communities, which together contain data on 27,113 households and 169,945 individuals, 26,446 of whom have U.S. migratory experience. These data are used here to trace the evolution of the Mexico-U.S. migration system from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, revealing how shifts in U.S. immigration and border policies have been critical to the formation of different eras of migration characterized by distinctive patterns of migration, settlement, and return in different legal statuses. The current era is characterized by the repression of the large population of undocumented migrants and their U.S. citizen children by an ongoing regime of mass detention and deportation and the simultaneous recruitment of Mexican workers for exploitation on short-term temporary visas. As the dynamics of Mexican migration to the United States continue to change, they will be monitored and analyzed in subsequent waves of data collection by the MMP.

scholarly journals Latinos’ deportation fears by citizenship and legal status, 2007 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asad L. Asad
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Group ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Over Time

Deportation has become more commonplace in the United States since the mid-2000s. Latin American noncitizens—encompassing undocumented and documented immigrants—are targeted for deportation. Deportation’s threat also reaches naturalized and US-born citizens of Latino descent who are largely immune to deportation but whose loved ones or communities are deportable. Drawing on 6 y of data from the National Survey of Latinos, this article examines whether and how Latinos’ deportation fears vary by citizenship and legal status and over time. Compared with Latino noncitizens, Latino US citizens report lower average deportation fears. However, a more complex story emerges when examining this divide over time: Deportation fears are high but stable among Latino noncitizens, whereas deportation fears have increased substantially among Latino US citizens. These trends reflect a growing national awareness of—rather than observable changes to—deportation policy and practice since the 2016 US presidential election. The article highlights how deportation or its consequences affects a racial group that the US immigration regime targets disproportionately.

scholarly journals The Geography of Undocumented Mexican Migration

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas S. Massey ◽  
Jacob S. Rugh ◽  
Karen A. Pren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican Migration ◽  
New Destinations ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Geographic Structure ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Undocumented Mexican Migration ◽  
Historical Origins ◽  
Over Time

Using data from Mexico's Matríícula Consular program, we analyze the geographic organization of undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. We show that emigration has moved beyond its historical origins in west-central Mexico into the central region and, to a lesser extent, the southeast and border regions. In the United States, traditional gateways continue to dominate, but a variety of new destinations have emerged. California, in particular, has lost its overwhelming dominance. Although the geographic structure of Mexico-U.S. migration is relatively stable, it has nonetheless continued to evolve and change over time.

Ethnic/Racial Identity: Fuzzy Categories and Shifting Positions

2018 ◽  
Vol 677 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Deaux
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
United States ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
National Norms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Identity Expression ◽  
Over Time

Demographic changes and increasing diversity in the United States bring about changes in how people define themselves and how they categorize others. I describe three issues that are relevant to the labeling and self-definition of ethnic groups in U.S. society: (1) the creation and definition of identity categories, (2) the subjectivity of self-definition, and (3) the flexibility of identity expression. In each case, substantial research from social psychology and related disciplines supports a socially constructed definition and use of ethnic categories, wherein identities are subject to the influence of local and national norms and are amenable to change across situations and over time.

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