A Longitudinal Study of Forced Return Migration and Labor Market Reintegration in Mexico

• In Event: 2384 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 11. Labor Market Incorporation

Abstract

The rise in U.S. deportations has resulted in a growing number of studies focused on the reintegration experiences of these migrants in their home communities. Based on interviews with deportees shortly after their arrival home, these studies paint a picture of economic gloom, finding that deportees are too frequently stigmatized by governments and employers and consequently unemployed or working on the margins of their home economies. In contrast, our longitudinal and comparative study, which draws on the findings of 93 deported and voluntary return migrants in Leon, Mexico, finds convergence in the labor market trajectories and social mobility outcomes of deportees and non-deportees, which reduces initial labor market disparities over time. Our research highlights the need to study return migration of deportees across time as a social process in which human agency and skill mobilization play a major part.

Authors

• Jacqueline M. Hagan, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Joshua Thomas Wassink, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Brianna Castro, Harvard University