Mexico

Migrants moving from Mexico to the United States represent the world's largest migration corridor, and the two countries have a long, complicated history with respect to immigration. Previously a country of emigration, Mexico increasingly has been experiencing new roles: as a country of transmigration and increasingly of settlement. The research here examines Mexico's relationship with its vast diaspora in the United States; the economic, insecurity, and other factors that have led to sizeable emigration; and the country's evolving policymaking with respect to migration.

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MPI en Español

MPI publishes its content most on point to migration policies, trends, and immigrant populations in Latin America and Spain in Spanish. You can access all of our Spanish-language content, including reports, commentaries, multimedia, and press releases, here, as well as sign up for updates when we publish Spanish-language content and learn more about our Latin America and Caribbean Migration Portal.

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Articles March 20, 2019 Mexican Migration to Canada: Temporary Worker Programs, Visa Imposition, and NAFTA Shape Flows By Ian Van Haren and Claudia Masferrer	Articles March 7, 2019 Protection and Reintegration: Mexico Reforms Migration Agenda in an Increasingly Complex Era By Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas
Multimedia February 28, 2019 Una nueva política migratoria para una nueva era: Una conversación con la Secretaria de Gobernación Olga Sánchez Cordero	Multimedia February 28, 2019 A New Migration Policy for A New Era: A Conversation with Mexico's Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero
Explainers April 2019 Explainer: Illegal Immigration in the United States By Jessica Bolter	Policy Briefs January 2019 Creatividad dentro de la crisis: opciones legales para migrantes venezolanos en América Latina By Andrew Selee, Jessica Bolter, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian and Miryam Hazán
Policy Briefs January 2019 Creativity amid Crisis: Legal Pathways for Venezuelan Migrants in Latin America By Andrew Selee, Jessica Bolter, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian and Miryam Hazán	Multimedia January 16, 2019 Promising Strategies for Reintegration of Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America

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Reports April 2011 Obstacles and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation: The U.S.-Mexico Case By Marc R. Rosenblum	Books November 2010 Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy
Reports November 2010 Voice After Exit: Diaspora Advocacy By Kathleen Newland	Reports September 2010 Diaspora Philanthropy: Private Giving and Public Policy By Kathleen Newland, Aaron Terrazas and Roberto Munster
Reports September 2010 Heritage Tourism and Nostalgia Trade: A Diaspora Niche in the Development Landscape By Kathleen Newland and Carylanna Taylor	Reports August 2010 Diaspora Investment in Developing and Emerging Country Capital Markets: Patterns and Prospects By Aaron Terrazas
Reports August 2010 Connected through Service: Diaspora Volunteers and Global Development By Aaron Terrazas	Books April 2010 Securing Human Mobility in the Age of Risk: New Challenges for Travel, Migration, and Borders By Susan Ginsburg

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Feature

July 1, 2010

Il est temps de tempérer les espoirs : Comparaison des expériences en matière de migration et développement au Maroc et au Mexique

English version | Versión espanol

Au cours de la deuxième moitié du XX^e siècle, le Mexique et le Maroc sont devenus les sources principales de travailleurs immigrés, et pour la plupart peu qualifiés, des États-Unis et de l'Europe respectivement.

Feature

May 27, 2010

On the Other Side of the Fence: Changing Dynamics of Migration in the Americas

Migration from Latin America to the United States and Europe appears to have slowed in the wake of the recent global financial crisis. As Jacqueline Mazza and Eleanor Sohnen of the Inter-American Development Bank report, flows between Latin American countries expanded in the 1990s and are still growing, crisis or not, and some countries are taking a more regional approach to managing migration.

Policy Beat

May 17, 2010

New Arizona Law Engulfs Immigration Debate

MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron take an in-depth look at Arizona's SB 1070, from the range of responses to what it means for federal immigration reform. Also in this edition: a bill that would revoke the U.S. citizenship of those found helping terrorists, more delays for the "virtual fence," increased approvals for Mexican nationals' asylum applications, and more.

Feature

March 31, 2010

Hidden in Plain Sight: Indigenous Migrants, Their Movements, and Their Challenges

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries worldwide. Carlos Yescas of the New School for Social Research looks at the definition of indigenous people, the three types of indigenous-people flows, and how indigenous migrants maintain ties with their home communities.

Feature

March 29, 2010

In Mexico, Mother's Education and Remittances Matter in School Outcomes

Remittances would seem to boost the chances that children in Mexico complete high school. But money alone does not improve schooling outcomes in the educationally marginalized, migrant-sending regions of southern Mexico, as Adam Sawyer of the Harvard Graduate School of Education reports.

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Articles

March 27, 2024

The Limits of the Go-It-Alone Approach: U.S. Migration Management Increasingly Requires Other Countries’ Cooperation

The U.S. immigration enforcement system increasingly depends on other countries to help halt irregular movements through the Americas and accept the return of unauthorized migrants. Foreign governments play a crucial and yet underappreciated role in migration management, and can either aid or frustrate U.S. border-control aims, as this article explores.

Reports

January 2024

Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Challenge Decades in the Making

Unauthorized migration at the U.S.-Mexico border has been a high-profile and politically divisive issue for decades. But as the nature of migration at the border has changed profoundly, U.S. policy responses have struggled to keep up. This report explores the changing nature of migration flows and migration policy at the border from the early 1990s until today, highlighting key lessons for contemporary policy-making.

Reports

January 2024

Shifting Realities at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Immigration Enforcement and Control in a Fast-Evolving Landscape

All eyes are on the U.S.-Mexico border, where shifting migration trends and record migrant arrivals have stretched the U.S. border management system beyond its capabilities. As the Biden administration continues to implement its new regime of incentives for orderly arrivals and disincentives for unauthorized crossings, this report analyzes the rapidly changing policy and migration realities and outlines recommendations for a more effective, durable system of border control.

Commentaries

October 2023

Shifting Patterns and Policies Reshape Migration to U.S.-Mexico Border in Major Ways in 2023

There is a deeper story behind the U.S. government's fiscal 2023 border encounters numbers than that the year marked a new record high. The pivot from the pandemic-era Title 42 expulsions policy and sharp diversification in nationalities have reshaped migrant arrivals unlike any year before. This commentary goes beyond the headlines to focus on the more enduring—and challenging—realities occuring at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reports

October 2023

Un camino sinuoso hacia la integración: Regularización de migrantes venezolanos y perspectivas del mercado laboral

El desplazamiento de venezolanos ha llevado a países de toda América Latina y el Caribe a poner en marcha políticas y programas para registrar, regularizar y apoyar la integración de los venezolanos. Sin embargo, la medida en que la regularización ha ayudado a los venezolanos a encontrar trabajo ha variado de un país a otro, como se analiza en este informe.

Reports

October 2023

A Winding Path to Integration: Venezuelan Migrants’ Regularization and Labor Market Prospects

Venezuelan displacement has prompted countries across Latin America and the Caribbean to launch policies and programs to register, regularize, and support the integration of arriving Venezuelans. However, the extent to which regular status has helped Venezuelans find work has varied from country to country, as this report discusses.

Commentaries

September 2023

A Turning Point for the Unauthorized Immigrant Population in the United States

The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States stood at approximately 11.2 million people in mid-2021, with larger annual growth than at any point since 2015, according to MPI's latest estimates. Even as the Mexican unauthorized immigrant population continued its decade-long decline, there were new entrants from a growing array of other countries.

Reports

June 2023

Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have long histories of emigration, but are seeing increasing transit and return migration as well. This report explores the stories told within these three countries about migration in all its forms, how these narratives intersect with (and at times, contradict) each other, and how they influence policy decisions and public opinion.

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