Immigration from the Northern Triangle of Central America: Destinations Mexico and the United States Compared

• In Event: 549 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Central American Migration

Abstract

spite of major economic slowdown in 2007-2009 and increased immigration and border enforcement in both the United States and Mexico over the last decade, unauthorized migration from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA, i.e., El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) has persisted. Over the last decade, a growing number of NTCA and Mexican nationals has been deported from the U.S. interior, or apprehended at the U.S. or Mexico borders and “removed” or “returned” to their places of origin. While an adverse economic context and immigration enforcement policies have been associated with lower unauthorized migration from Mexico, immigration from the NTCA appears to be impervious to these trends. This paper aims to shed light on how historical contexts of migration shape the demographic outlook of these populations in two different contexts of reception. We explain the role of economic and political contexts of emigration from each NTCA nation, as well as the immigration policy contexts of reception in the United States and Mexico, and relate this to the socio-demographic profiles of the NTCA populations in both countries. We compare immigrant socio-demographic profiles (age, sex and education), migration timing and geographical distribution of migrants from the three countries in Mexico and the United States over the last two decades.

Authors

• Carla Pederzini, Universidad Iberoamericana

• Fernando Riosmena

• Claudia Patricia Masferrer Leon, El Colegio de México