Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T09:16:52.090Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Changing Profile of Mexican Migrants to the United States: New Evidence from California and Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Enrico A. Marcelli  and
Wayne A. Cornelius
Enrico A. Marcelli
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Wayne A. Cornelius
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Using recent data from southern California and Mexico, we challenge the notion that the demographic profile of Mexican migrants to the United States since 1970 has remained constant. We find that more recent cohorts of migrants are more likely to settle permanently in the United States, to have higher proportions of females, to be younger, to have more education, to be increasingly likely to originate in southern Mexico and the Mexico City metropolitan area, and to be increasingly likely to depart from urban areas within Mexico. Although we find no direct evidence that the legalization programs mandated by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 has led to a stronger propensity to settle permanently in the United States, logistic regression analyses demonstrate the importance of the other three main explanatory factors suggested by Wayne Cornelius in 1992: economic crisis in Mexico, the changing character of U.S. demand for labor, and social networks.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , 2001 , pp. 105 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

This research note was written while the first author was a Research Fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, and revised while he was a Visiting Scholar at Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Earlier drafts were presented to the Population Association of America, 25–27 Mar. 1999, in New York City, and to the UCLA Demographic Workshop on 3 May 2000. The authors gratefully acknowledge grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation, and the U.S.-Mexico Science Foundation. The field research in Los Angeles County was undertaken jointly by the University of Southern California and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. We are also indebted to Craig Cornelius and Rafael Vergara for research assistance. Valuable comments on an initial draft were provided by Manuel García y Griego, David Heer, and Pascale Joassart. We also have benefited from conversations with Paul Ong, Robert Mare, Shannon McConville, Manuel Pastor Jr., and Rafael Alarcón as well as from suggestions provided by three anonymous LARR reviewers. The authors bear full responsibility for all interpretations and conclusions in this piece.

References

Alarcon, Rafael 1995a “Immigrants or Transnational Workers? The Settlement Process among Mexicans in Rural California.” Davis: California Institute for Rural Studies.Google Scholar
Alarcon, Rafael 1995b “Transnational Communities, Regional Development, and the Future of Mexican Immigration.” Berkeley Planning Journal 10: 36–54.Google Scholar
Bean, Frank D., Corona, Rodolfo, Tuiran, Rodolpho, and Woodrow-Lafield, Karen A. 1998 “The Quantification of Migration between Mexico and the United States.” In Migration between Mexico and the United States: Binational Study, 1:1–89. Mexico City and Washington, D.C.: Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform.Google Scholar
Bean, Frank D., Espenshade, Thomas J., White, Michael J., and Dymowski, Robert F. 1990 “Post-IRCA Changes in the Volume and Composition of Undocumented Migration to the United States: An Assessment Based on Apprehensions Data.” In Undocumented Migration to the United States: IRCA and the Experience of the 1980s, edited by Bean, Frank D., Edmonston, Barry, and Passel, Jeffrey S., 111–58. Santa Monica, Calif., and Washington, D.C.: Rand Corporation and the Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1997 “The Economic Impact of Mexican Immigration.” In Coming Together? Mexico-United States Relations, edited by Bosworth, Barry, Collins, Susan M., and Nora Claudia Lustig, 155–86. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Borjas, George J. 1998 “Immigration and Welfare: A Review of the Evidence.” In The Debate in the United States over Immigration, edited by Duignan, Peter and Gann, L. H., 121–44. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press.Google Scholar
Bustamante, Jorge A. 1984 “Changing Patterns of Undocumented Migration from Mexican States in Recent Years.” In Patterns of Undocumented Migration: Mexico and the United States, edited by Jones, Richard C., 15–32. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld.Google Scholar
Castles, Stephen, and Miller, Mark J. 1998 The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. New York: Guilford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chavez, Leo R. 1988 “Settlers and Sojourners: The Case of Mexicans in the United States.” Human Organization 47, no. 2: 95–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, William A. V. 1998 The California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes of Local Communities. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1976 “Outmigration from Rural Mexican Communities.” In The Dynamics of Migration: International Migration, 1–40. Occasional Monograph Series, Vol. 2, No. 5. Washington, D.C.: Interdisciplinary Communications Program, Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1981 The Future of Mexican Immigrants in California: A New Perspective for Public Policy. La Jolla, Calif.: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1991 “Labor Migration to the United States: Development Outcomes and Alternatives in Mexican Sending Communities.” In Regional and Sectoral Development in Mexico as Alternatives to Migration, edited by DÍAz-Briquets, Sergio and Weintraub, Sidney, 89–131. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1992 “From Sojourners to Settlers: The Changing Profile of Mexican Immigration to the United States.” In U.S.-Mexico Relations: Labor Market Interdependence, edited by Bustamante, Jorge A., Reynolds, Clark W., and Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, 155–95. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1998a “Ejido Reform: Stimulus or Alternative to Migration.” In The Transformation of Rural Mexico: Reforming the Ejido Sector, edited by Cornelius, Wayne A. and Myhre, David, 229–46. La Jolla, Calif.: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A. 1998b “The Structural Embeddedness of Demand for Mexican Immigrant Labor: New Evidence from California.” In SUAREZ-OROZCO 1998, 113–44.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge 1998 “Migration and Integration: Intermarriages among Mexicans and Non-Mexicans in the United States.” In SUAREZ-OROZCO 1998, 209–21.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge, and Massey, Douglas S. 1992 “Mexican Migration to the United States: A Critical Review.” LARR 27, no. 2: 3–42.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge, Massey, Douglas S., and Zenteno, Rene M. 2001 “Mexican Immigration to the United States: Continuities and Changes.” LARR 36, no. 1: 107–26.Google Scholar
Easterlin, Richard A. 1996 Growth Triumphant: The Twenty-First Century in Historical Perspective. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Fix, Michael, and Passel, Jeffrey S. 1994 Immigration and Immigrants: Setting the Record Straight. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
Freeman, Gary P., Gonzalez-Baker, Susan, Orozco, Manuel, and Plascencia, Luis F. B. 1999 “The Making of Americans: Results of the Texas Naturalization Survey.” In-house report, Public Policy Clinic, Department of Government, University of Texas-Austin.Google Scholar
Garcia Y Griego, Manuel 1983 “Comments on Bustamante and Sanderson Papers and on Research Project ENEFNEU.” In U.S.-Mexico Relations: Economic and Social Aspects, edited by Reynolds, Clark W. and Tello, Carlos, 299–314. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Garcia Y Griego, Manuel 1989 “The Mexican Labor Supply, 1990–2010.” In Mexican Migration to the United States: Origins, Consequences, and Policy Options, edited by Cornelius, Wayne A. and Bustamante, Jorge A., 49–93. La Jolla: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Hamermesh, Daniel S., and Bean, Frank D., EDS. 1998 Help or Hindrance: The Economic Implications of Immigration for African Americans. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Hanson, Gordon H., Robertson, Raymond, and Spilimbergo, Antonio n.d. “Does Border Enforcement Protect U.S. Workers from Illegal Immigration?” Review of Economics and Statistics, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Heer, David M. 1996 Immigration in America's Future: Social Science Findings and the Policy Debate. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Heer, David M. 2000 “When Cumulative Causation Conflicts with Saturation of Economic Opportunity: Recent Change in the Hispanic Population of the United States by State.” Paper presented to the Population Association of America, 24 Mar., Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Hernandez-Leon, Ruben, and ZuÑIga, Victor 2000 “Making Carpet by the Mile: The Emergence of a Mexican Immigrant Community in an Industrial Region of the U.S. Historic South.” Social Science Quarterly 81, no. 1 (Mar.):49–66.Google Scholar
Hirsch, Jennifer S. 1998 “En el norte la mujer manda: Gender, Generation, and Geography in a Mexican Transnational Community.” Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, 24–26 Sept., Chicago.Google Scholar
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette 1994 Gendered Transitions: Mexican Experiences of Immigration. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette 1997 “The History of Mexican Undocumented Settlement in the United States.” In Fronteras: Structuring Latina and Latino Lives in the U.S., edited by Romero, Mary, Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, and Ortiz, Vilma. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Johnson, Hans 1996 Undocumented Immigration to California, 1980–1993. San Francisco: Public Policy Institute of California.Google Scholar
Kritz, Mary M., Lim, Lin Lean, and Zlotnik, Hania 1992 International Migration Systems: A Global Approach. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Lee, Kenneth E. 1998 Huddled Masses, Muddled Laws: Why Contemporary Immigration Policy Fails to Reflect Public Opinion. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Google Scholar
Mabogunje, A. L. 1970 “A Systems Approach to a Theory of Rural-Urban Migration.” Geographic Analysis 2: 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, Karin, and Cain, Bruce E. 1998 “Nativism, Partisanship, and Immigration: An Analysis of Prop. 187.” In Racial and Ethnic Politics in California, edited by Michael B. Preston, Bruce E. Cain, and Sandra Bass, 2:277–304. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
Malkin, Victoria 1999 “La reproducción de relaciones de género en la comunidad de migrantes mexicanos en New Rochelle, Nueva York.” In Fronteras fragmentadas, edited by Mummert, Gail, 475–96. Zamora and Morelia: Colegio de Michoacán and Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo del Estado de Michoacán.Google Scholar
Mameesh, Laura, and Reyes, Belinda I. 1998 Regional Variation of Mexican Immigration and Settlement. San Francisco, Calif.: Public Policy Institute of California.Google Scholar
Marcelli, Enrico A. 1999 “Undocumented Latino Immigrant Workers: The Los Angeles Experience.” In Illegal Immigration in America: A Reference Handbook, edited by Haines, David W. and Rosenblum, Karen E., 193–231. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Marcelli, Enrico A. n.d. California in Denial: A Political Economy of Unauthorized Mexican Immigration. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Marcelli, Enrico A., and Heer, David M. 1997 “Unauthorized Mexican Workers in the 1990 Los Angeles County Labour Force.” International Migration 35, no. 1: 59–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcelli, Enrico A., and Heer, David M. 1998 “The Unauthorized Mexican Immigrant Population and Welfare in Los Angeles County: A Comparative Statistical Analysis.” Sociological Perspectives 41, no. 2: 279–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcelli, Enrico A., Pastor, Manuel JR., and Joassart, Pascale M. 1999 “Estimating the Effects of Informal Economic Activity: Evidence from Los Angeles County.” Journal of Economic Issues 33, no. 3: 579–607.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1990 “Social Structure, Household Strategies, and the Cumulative Causation of Migration.” Population Index 56: 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S. 1998 “March of Folly: U.S. Immigration Policy after NAFTA.” The American Prospect 9, no. 37 (Mar.–Apr.):22–33.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., Arango, Joaquin, Hugo, Graeme, Kouaouci, Ali, Pellegrino, Adela, and Edward Taylor, J. 1999 Worlds in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Myers, Dowell 1998 “Dimensions of Economic Adaptation by Mexican-Origin Men.” In SUAREZ-OROZCO 1998, 159–200.Google Scholar
Myrdal, Gunnar 1957 Rich Lands and Poor: The Road to World Prosperity. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Piore, Michael 1979 Birds of Passage: Labor Migration and Industrial Societies. London: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portes, Alejandro, and Borocz, Josef 1989 “Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on Its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation.” International Migration Review 23: 606–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Rees, Martha W., Miller, T. D., and Arillo, Mariposa 1998 “Latina Households and Work in Atlanta.” Paper presented to the Latin American Studies Association, 24–26 Sept., Chicago.Google Scholar
Roberts, Bryan R., Frank, Reanne, and Lozano-Ascencio, Fernando 1999 “Transnational Migrant Communities and Mexican Migration to the United States.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 22, no. 2: 240–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenblum, Marc R. 2000 “At Home and Abroad: The Foreign and Domestic Sources of U.S. Immigration Policy.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Sassen, Saskia 1988 The Mobility of Labor and Capital: A Study in International Investment and Labor Flow. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, James P. 1998 “Progress across the Generations.” Paper presented to the American Economic Association, 3–5 Jan., Chicago.Google Scholar
Smith, James P., and Edmonston, Barry, EDS. 1997 The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Smith, James P., and Edmonston, Barry, EDS. 1998 The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Robert 1998 “Commentary.” In SUAREZ-OROZCO 1998, 145–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M., ED. 1998 Crossings: Mexican Immigration in Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
U.S. COMMISSION ON IMMIGRATION REFORM AND MEXICAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 1997 Binational Study of Migration between Mexico and the United States: Final Report. Washington, D.C., and Mexico City: U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations.Google Scholar
U.S. GAO (UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTING OFFICE) 1997 H-2A Agricultural Guestworker Program: Changes Could Improve Services to Employers and Better Protect Workers. Washington, D.C.: U.S. GAO.Google Scholar
Waldinger, Roger 1997 “Social Capital or Social Closure? Immigrant Networks in the Labor Market.” Working Paper no. 6. Los Angeles: Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
Ward, Peter M. 1998 Mexico City. Revised second edition. Chichester and New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Warren, Robert 1997 Estimates of the Undocumented Immigrant Population Residing in the United States, October 1996. Washington, D.C.: Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Warren, Robert, and Passel, Jeffrey S. 1987 “A Count of the Uncountable: Estimates of Undocumented Aliens Counted in the 1980 United States Census.” Demography 24, no. 3: 375–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed