Researchers examine Mexico United States border migration flow

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 9, 2010

Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis

In the past couple of years, traffic of undocumented immigrants across the Mexico United States border has declined (see Fewer Mexican immigrants arriving, similar number returning home). Thirty-five researchers participating in the Mexican Migration Field Research and Training Program (MMFRP) based in the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and in partnership with Mexican institutions, contributed a summary of their findings on recent migration from Mexico to the United States. Their work, edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, David Fitzgerald, Pedro Lewin Fischer and Leah Muse-Orlinoff, was published this year as a book titled Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis A Transnational Perspective (Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, $29.50).

The researchers set out to better understand how economic shocks affect populations movements, specifically those across the Mexico to United States border. They were curious to know how people were managing in places that provided or received immigrants; how individuals were making decision about migrating, staying at home or staying in the United States; and the importance of U.S. immigration enforcement at the border and within the United States in discouraging immigration and encouraging the settling of immigrants in the United States.

The 269-page softcover book is divided into 10 chapters: Introduction; Coping with La Crisis; Double Jeopardy: How U.S. Enforcement Policies Shape Tunkaseño Migration; Economic Crisis vs. Border Enforcement: What Matters Most to Prospective Migrants?; Inhabiting Two Worlds: Tunkaseños in the Transnational Labor Market; Leaving to Learn or Learning to Leave: Education in Tunkás; Values in Conflict: Youth in A Culture of Migration; The Family Dynamics of Tunkaseño Migration; Sweet Dreams and Bitter Realities: Nutrition and Health Care in Tunkás and the United States; and Reshaping Community Participation: Tunkaseños in a Binational Context.

Wayne A. Cornelius, director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS)

Cornelius is director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS), University of California-San Diego as well as Distinguished Professor of Political Science. Fitzgerald, associated director, CCIS is author of A Nation of Emigrants: How Mexico Manages Its Migration. Lewin Fischer is senior researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia’s Centro Yucatán. Leah Muse-Orlinoff is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of California, San Diego.

Click here to buy Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis

Binational team examines Mexico California immigration issues

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 15, 2010

Migration from the Mexican Mixteca A Transnational Community in Oaxaca and California (Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, $29) is a 268-page paperback book about migrant communities in Mexico’s Mixteca region of Oaxaca and San Diego in California. Twenty women and twelve men contributed eight chapters to the book. Edited by Wayne A. Cornelius, David Fitzgerald, Jorge Hernández Díaz, and Scott Borger the book is based on surveys and interviews with migrant workers and potential migrants conducted by a team in both countries in 2007 and 2008.

The editors strive to show how some Oaxaca-based and California-based natives of the town of San Miguel Tlacotepec have built parallel communities in spite of the international divide. They examine the efficacy and impact of border enforcement, how undocumented status affects health and education, and how modern telecommunications are providing the tools for transborder migrant networks.

The eight chapters are: San Miguel Tlacotepec as a Community of Emigration; Strategies for Success: Border Crossing in an Era of Heightened Security; Setting Down Roots: Tlacotepense Settlement in the United States; Long-Distance Lives: International Migrant Networks and Technology in the United States and Mexico; Going to School, Going to El Norte: Migration’s Impact on Tlacotepense Education; Lucharle por la Vida: The Impact of Migration on Health; Between Here and There: Ethnicity, Civic Participation, and Migration in San Miguel Tlacotepec; and The Economics of Migration: Agriculture, Remittances and Investment.

Wayne A. Cornelius, director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS)

Cornelius is director emeritus, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS), University of California-San Diego as well as Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Theodore E. Gildred Chair in U.S.-Mexican Relations at that university. Fitzgerald, associated director, CCIS is author of A Nation of Emigrants: How Mexico Manages Its Migration. Borger is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of California, San Diego. Hernandez-Diaz is professor of anthropology at the Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca.

Click here to buy Migration from the Mexican Mixteca