“Starting from Scratch?”: Adaptation After Deportation and Return Migration Among Young Mexican Migrants

Silver, Alexis M.; Manzanares, Melissa A.; Goldring, Liron

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69897-3_7

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…Our finding that undocumented migrants' savings brought home decrease while their remittances increase may also carry implications for the re-integration of deported migrants in Mexico. A growing literature shows that deportation is linked to a high economic cost and that the re-integration of deported migrants can be a difficult process (Dominguez-Villegas & Bustamante, 2021;Hagan et al, 2019;Silver et al, 2021;Wassink & Hagan, 2020). Bringing less savings back to Mexico may be associated with longer stays in the United States and a lower number of border crossings, due to the rising risk of apprehension at the border (Massey et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Effect of Increased Deportations on Mexican Migrants’ Remittances and Savings Brought Home

Weber

Massey

2023

Popul Res Policy Rev

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Beginning in the 1990s and intensifying after the events of September 11, deportations in the United States increased to record levels under President Obama and continued at high levels under President Trump. Although a growing literature addresses how migrants respond to the shifting context of reception, empirical evidence on how migrants’ remitting and saving behavior changed as a result of immigration enforcement remains limited. Using detailed individual-level data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP, N = 6787) for the years 1970–2019, this study examines how deportations relate to Mexican migrants’ joint decisions to remit and/or save, and how this relationship differs by documentation status. Results from multinomial logistic regressions reveal that rising deportations are associated with an increase in the transnational economic engagement of undocumented migrants. This is largely due to an increase in remittances; savings brought back decrease with rising deportations, likely because keeping savings in the United States is riskier than sending money back directly. Among documented migrants, the remitting and saving behavior does not appear to change as deportations rise. Analyzing these behaviors together is important to gain a more complete understanding of migrants’ transnational economic ties and links to the country of destination.

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