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.

Recent Activity

Articles April 25, 2018 National Guard Heads to Southern Border Amid Differing Reality from Earlier Deployments By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Austin Rose	Reports November 2020 Immigration Data Matters By Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
Articles March 7, 2018 Connecting the Dots: Emerging Migration Trends and Policy Questions in North and Central America By Claudia Masferrer, Víctor M. García-Guerrero, and Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo	Articles February 8, 2018 Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States By Jie Zong, Jeanne Batalova, and Jeffrey Hallock
Reports January 2018 Trump’s First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality By Sarah Pierce, Jessica Bolter and Andrew Selee	Multimedia August 31, 2017 La Situación de Cambio Constante entre EE UU y México: Tendencias y Políticas de Migración, Incluyendo Menores No Acompañados
Reports July 2017 Strengthening Mexico’s Protection of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in Transit By Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas	Multimedia May 4, 2017 Recognizing Changing Enforcement and Crossing Trends at the U.S.-Mexico Border

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Reports April 2008 A New Citizenship Bargain for the Age of Mobility? Citizenship Requirements in Europe and North America By Randall Hansen	Reports April 2008 Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility By Thomas Faist and Jürgen Gerdes
Fact Sheets September 2007 Variable Impacts: State-level Analysis of the Slowdown in the Growth of Remittances to Mexico By Aaron Terrazas	Policy Briefs June 2007 Leveraging Remittances for Development By Dilip Ratha
Policy Briefs April 2007 Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland	Reports September 2006 Remittances and Development: Trends, Impacts, and Policy Options, A Review of the Literature By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Reports September 2006 From A Zero-Sum to a Win-Win Scenario? Literature Review on Circular Migration By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza	Reports June 2006 America's Emigrants: U.S. Retirement Migration to Mexico and Panama By David Dixon, Julie Murray and Julia Gelatt

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Feature

February 1, 2007

Migration and Development: Lessons from the Mexican Experience

Mexico has often been cited as a successful example of the positive relationship between migration and development. But Raúl Delgado-Wise and Luis Eduardo Guarnizo show why Mexico's model is unsustainable.

Top Ten

December 1, 2006

All about the Border

The border between the U.S. and Mexico and the water dividing Europe and North Africa continue to be the world's main fronts in the fight against illegal immigration.

Feature

September 1, 2006

Mexico's Presidential Election: Implications for U.S. Immigration Policy

Both of the leading presidential candidates said during the campaign that Mexico needed to create more and better jobs to stem migration - but their approaches to the problem differ. Susan Gzesh of the University of Chicago reports.

Feature

September 1, 2006

America's Emigrants: U.S. Retirement Migration to Mexico and Panama

Little is known about Americans who have retired to Latin America. MPI's David Dixon, Julie Murray, and Julia Gelatt examine the U.S. retiree population in Mexico and Panama by looking at census and visa data as well as by interviewing American retirees in various communities.

Feature

June 1, 2006

The U.S.-Mexico Border

With so much political attention focused on the southern border, the MPI staff has updated this guide to regional population numbers, border crossings, border enforcement, and the economic ties between the United States and Mexico.

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Reports

February 2020

Bienvenidas asimétricas: Respuestas de América Latina y el Caribe a la migración venezolana y nicaragüense

El gran desplazamiento forzado de personas en Venezuela y Nicaragua está transformando el panorama migratorio en gran parte de América Latina y el Caribe. Este informe examina las respuestas de las políticas de inmigración e integración de once países, incluyendo vías de regularización y medidas para integrar a los recién llegados en las escuelas y mercados laborales. Este informe acompaña el lanzamiento de un Portal Sobre Migración que ofrece investigación y análisis actualizados sobre tendencias y políticas de inmigración en la región.

Articles

February 5, 2020

Ally or Exploiter? The Smuggler-Migrant Relationship Is a Complex One

As highly industrialized countries ramp up their border controls, human smugglers are playing a central role in moving migrants through key migration corridors around the world. Despite the illicit nature of their work and being cast as villains in the public eye, smugglers have complex, multifaceted relationships with their clients. At times, the relationship can be mutually beneficial or even lifesaving; at others, it can be predatory and dangerous, as this article explores.

Reports

February 2020

An Uneven Welcome: Latin American and Caribbean Responses to Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Migration

Large-scale displacement from Venezuela and Nicaragua is reshaping the migration landscape in much of Latin America and the Caribbean. This report, accompanied by the launch of a new Migration Portal offering research and analysis on the region, examines the immigration and integration policy responses of 11 countries, including pathways to legal status and measures to integrate newcomers into schools, health-care systems, and labor markets.

Articles

October 22, 2019

As More Migrants from Africa and Asia Arrive in Latin America, Governments Seek Orderly and Controlled Pathways

Growing numbers of African and Asian migrants are moving through Latin America, many hoping to reach the United States or Canada after expensive, arduous, and often dangerous journeys that can take months or even years. As more extracontinental migrants transit through South and Central America, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica have developed the most comprehensive policies to manage these flows, sometimes working in coordination with the U.S. government.

Reports

September 2019

Invertir en el vecindario: Cambios en los patrones de migración entre México y Estados Unidos y oportunidades para una cooperación sostenible

La migración entre México y Estados Unidos ha cambiado dramáticamente en los últimos años, pero las políticas y la retórica política en ambos países no se han actualizado a este contexto a la misma velocidad. Este reporte explora esta nueva realidad migratoria y cómo los dos gobiernos podrían trabajar juntos para abordar los desafíos de políticas públicas que tienen en común.

Reports

September 2019

Investing in the Neighborhood: Changing Mexico-U.S. Migration Patterns and Opportunities for Sustainable Cooperation

Migration between Mexico and the United States has changed dramatically in recent years, but policies and political rhetoric in both countries have not always kept up. This report, which draws from discussions of a high-level Mexico-U.S. study group convened by MPI and El Colegio de México, explores this new migration reality and how the two governments could work more closely together to address shared policy challenges.

Video, Audio

August 12, 2019

Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: Building a Responsive, Effective Immigration System

This discussion marked the launch of MPI's Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative, which aims to generate a big-picture, evidence-driven vision of the role immigration should play in America’s future, as well as to build a bipartisan center so needed reforms can be enacted. The initiative's leader, MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner, joins in conversation with former Bush administration Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and former Obama White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Muñoz about the prospects for action and what's needed.

Reports

August 2019

From Control to Crisis: Changing Trends and Policies Reshaping U.S.-Mexico Border Enforcement

How did the U.S. border enforcement picture go in the span of two years from the lowest levels of illegal immigration since 1971 to a spiraling border security and humanitarian crisis? This report draws on enforcement and other data as well as analysis of changing migration trends and policies to tell this story. The authors outline key elements for a new strategy that can succeed over the long term.

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