Chapter 3 deploys transnational ethnography to capture the enactments of transnational citizenship of returned migrant politicians and activists within the clientelistic orbit of the Mexican state. Under conditions of political cartelization, whereby Mexican political parties are congealing into a ruling bloc, Mexican migrants can be a critical cross-border constituency that can potentially challenge the hegemonic party system in México. However, in an autocratic system, these cross-border activists must avoid the ever-present danger of domestication. Indeed, Mexican migrants’ enactments of transnational citizenship can only come to fruition if they can resist the corruption, co-optation, coercion, and control of clientelistic party politics in México. While this chapter identifies the political pitfalls and contradictions of transnational citizenship, it also shows how the diasporic dialectics of Mexican migrants can further deepen democratic citizenship on both sides of the U.S.-México border.
Alcohol and Drug Use at the U.S.-Mexico Border – Does Cross-Border Mobility make a Difference?