Document Type
Report
Publication Date
12-2023
Abstract
The phenomenon of Mexicans returning to Mexico after an extended stay in the United States is an increasingly important one. Though estimates for the period from 2014 through 2019 show that more Mexicans have migrated to the United States than left, net migration is still well below that of peak net migration from 1995 to 2000. In the period of 2014-2019, the net migration of Mexican nationals to the United States was only 160,000 versus 2.3 million during the period from 1995 to 2000. From 2005–2014, the U.S. experienced an outmigration of Mexican nationals, as more Mexicans left the U.S. than entered (net migration), reversing a trend from the previous decade. Many of those returnees were deported, as the U.S. significantly increased its interior removals during that period. The U.S. deported 2,368,098 Mexican nationals back to Mexico, including a record 306,870 in 2012. Additionally, significant numbers of returnees have gone back to Mexico on their own. Some returned to join deported family members, while others returned to find better economic and educational opportunities than were available in the United States.
The ability of returnees and deportees to successfully reintegrate into Mexican society is dependent on a variety of factors. At a minimum, successful reintegration means that a returnee is able to find a job, obtain housing, address other economic necessities, and take care of their physical needs. But successful reintegration also requires addressing the detrimental mental and emotional health effects that often result from a return process that, at a minimum, is disruptive and that for many returnees, is very traumatic.
When a returnee arrives in Mexico, what factors determine whether they experience a successful reintegration? What can governmental and non-governmental organizations who work with returnees do to increase the opportunities for successful reintegration? What can returnees themselves do to help ensure a faster, more successful reintegration experience? Some factors–like age, gender, or deportation status–are determined before the returnee begins their journey to Mexico. Other factors– like access to social networks and jobs, language proficiency, and cultural knowledge–may be more amenable to policy reforms.
This research project began in 2019 and seeks to address these questions. The research team, made up of four legal scholars, a historian, and a sociologist, worked over the last four years to gather data from interviews with returnees, civil society, and governmental organizations. The research team was supported by a team of graduate and law students who participated in the interviewing process, the coding of interviews, translated interview transcripts and conference proceedings, and provided legal information through webinars.
Through this project and subsequent convening in Mexico City in May 2023, the research team began a conversation among people who have returned to Mexico, governmental actors, civil society organizations, lawyers, and academics. The goals of the conversation are to identify what leads to successful reintegration and what challenges to reintegration exist, to recommend policy reforms, and to develop concrete action to address the barriers to reintegration.
First Page
1
Last Page
34
Num Pages
34
Publisher
Texas A&M University
Recommended Citation
Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez, Sonia Hernandez, Luz E. Herrera, Angela D. Morrison, Huyen Pham & Nancy Plankey-Videla,
Final Report of the Mexican Reintegration Project Study,
1
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/2166
File Type
Included in
Immigration Law Commons, International Law Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons
