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Title: US Immigration Policy and Mexican/Central American Migration Flows: Then and Now

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Migration rates to the United States from Mexico and Central America's "Northern Triangle" (El Salvador, Guatamala, and Honduras) have accelerated in the last four decades, spurred by strong migration push-pull factors and massive opportunity differentials throughout the region. About 14 million immigrants from these four countries live in the United States today, up from fewer than 1 million in 1970s, and these countries account for 36 percent of all US immigrants. This significant increase has been driven by economic opportunities, and facilitated by social networks of friends and family already in the United States.The history of US immigration policy within the region corresponds with three major migration periods: mostly laissez faire policies prior to the 1930s with limited migration before World War II; a large-scale temporary worker program (the Bracero Program) during and after the war that increased migration flows; and the emergence of a mostly illegal system following the elimination of the Bracero Program and passage of major immigration legislation in 1965. Despite increasingly robust immigration enforcement beginning in the 1980s, illegal flows of immigrants from Mexico and Central America have persisted.Since 1965, and particularly since the 1990s, immigration from the region has changed in significant ways. While migration flows historically were dominated by migrants from central Mexico who performed agricultural jobs in the US Southwest, during the last two decades the regional migration system has diversified to encompass new communities of origin in Mexico and Central America, new destinations throughout the United states, and a broader occupational profile including jobs in construction, maintenance, food service, and manufacturing. Despite these changes, however, immigrants from Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America continue to have less education and lower incomes than natives and other immigrants, and with few legal visas available, most immigrants from the region are unauthorized.These recent dynamics play a critical role in shaping the politics of immigration policy within the United States. Young, low-skilled immigrants perform essential work, but the rapid growth of low-wage, limited English proficient (LEP), unauthorized populations in states with limited migration experience has contributed to increased anti-immigrant sentiment. Forty years into the current wave of regional migration, and after 25 years of increasingly serious enforcement efforts, this history also defines and limits the policy alternatives available, and highlights the challenges of managing regional flows.

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Authors: Rosenblum, Marc R.; Brick, Kate

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Institution: Migration Policy Institute

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Publisher Location: Washington, D.C.

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration

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