Emigration from Mexico
A large Mexican immigrant population also exists in Central and South American countries as Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile.
Many countries allow Mexicans opportunities in areas like science research, to study at colleges and universities, and through other cultural exchanges.
[40] They primarily come from nine states: Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Chiapas[41] and Jalisco.
This money, called remesas in Mexican Spanish, has become the second highest source of income that Mexico receives from other countries, second only to exports of petroleum and its products.
[43] Recent economic opportunities and advantages with international treaties, harassment, and threatening insecurity have induced even some affluent persons to leave the country.
One of the most influential factors of why people are choosing to flee their country is due to the consistent occurrence of violence associated with the drug war that lead to disappearances, deaths, and kidnappings, as well as human rights violations by the military and police forces.
[47] From 1910 to 1920, the political violence and societal chaos caused by the Mexican Revolution also played a role in increasing migration northwards.
[48] Mexico's working-age population faced a shortage of jobs and depressingly low earning which was due to Diaz Notices that continued to benefit hacendados at the expense of campesinos.
[50] Economic inequality, rural poverty, significantly lower wages, and better opportunities have also played a role throughout the 20th century as factors pulling Mexicans to migrate to the US.
The immigration laws of the U.S. such as Emergency Quota Act generally allowed exemptions for Mexico, while being more restrictive to citizens of the Eastern Hemisphere.
In that period of time, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston were the largest cities with notable populations of Mexican immigrants.
[51] The limitations on Mexican immigration lasted until the beginning of World War II, when the U.S. found itself short of labor.
[57] The Bracero Program allowed agribusiness access to a large pool of labor that had virtually no civil rights, and no recourse to address growing injustices.
[citation needed] The U.S. did not report the conditions that immigrants faced, in fear that the Bracero Program would be jeopardized.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 which had put limits on the total number of visas granted, was amended in 1965 following the termination of the Bracero Program.
These amendments put an end to the quota system, and instead, created a total number of visas allowed to the Western Hemisphere.
[51] A contributing factor to the persistently high numbers of migrants from Mexico was the creation of the Border Industrialization Program in 1965.
The end of the Bracero Program combined with restrictions put on the number of visas allowed by the United States greatly increased the levels of illegal migration from Mexico.
IRCA also made it possible to impose civil and criminal penalties on any employer who knowingly hired undocumented workers.
The research also found that of the interviewed migrants who moved back to Mexico, only about 11% were forced to leave the United States due to being deported.
[67] Furthermore, research suggests that Mexican households are equal in authority and control over resources, which predicts the emigration of their male partners to the U.S.[68] Emigration can function as an escape valve to alleviate economic pressures, as it provides a source of income and opens up work opportunities in villages of origin.
[69] The return of many migrants thus causes great stress on these communities, who are heading for economic crisis as important sources of income fall away and more people become unemployed as there is less work available.
The return of migrants to Mexico thus has important cultural repercussions and changes the face of their home communities forever.
Migration from Venezuela, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic to the U.S. is rising, as their migrants begin to replace Mexican workers.
It is however unclear whether other Hispanic American countries follow these trends, and it is unsure whether the gap left by returning Mexicans will be filled by such migrants.
