IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v53y2016i5d10.1007_s13524-016-0505-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in the Transnational Family Structures of Mexican Farm Workers in the Era of Border Militarization

Author

Listed:
  • Erin R. Hamilton

    (University of California)

  • Jo Mhairi Hale

    (University of California)

Abstract

Historically, undocumented Mexican farm workers migrated circularly, leaving family behind in Mexico on short trips to the United States. Scholars have argued that border militarization has disrupted circular migration as the costs of crossing the border lead to longer stays, increased settlement, and changing transnational family practices. Yet, no study has explored changes in the transnational family structures of Mexico-U.S. migrants that span the era of border militarization. Using data from the National Agricultural Workers Survey, we document a dramatic shift away from transnational family life (as measured by location of residence of dependent children) among undocumented Mexican farm workers and a less dramatic shift among documented Mexican farm workers in the United States between 1993 and 2012. These trends are not explained by changes in the sociodemographic characteristics of farm workers or by changing demographic conditions or rising violence in Mexico. One-half of the trend can be accounted for by lengthened duration of stay and increased connections to the United States among the undocumented, but none of the trend is explained by these measures of settlement among the documented, suggesting that some Mexican farm workers adopt new family migration strategies at first migration. Increases in border control are associated with lower likelihood that children reside in Mexico—a finding that holds up to instrumental variable techniques. Our findings confirm the argument that U.S. border militarization—a policy designed to deter undocumented migration—is instead disrupting transnational family life between Mexico and the United States and, in doing so, is creating a permanent population of undocumented migrants and their children in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin R. Hamilton & Jo Mhairi Hale, 2016. "Changes in the Transnational Family Structures of Mexican Farm Workers in the Era of Border Militarization," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1429-1451, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:53:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s13524-016-0505-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-016-0505-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-016-0505-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-016-0505-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael S. Rendall & Susan W. Parker, 2014. "Two Decades of Negative Educational Selectivity of Mexican Migrants to the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(3), pages 421-446, September.
    2. Antonio Spilimbergo & Gordon H. Hanson, 1999. "Illegal Immigration, Border Enforcement, and Relative Wages: Evidence from Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1337-1357, December.
    3. Martin, Philip L., 2012. "Hired Farm Workers," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-7.
    4. Matthew Hall & Emily Greenman, 2015. "The Occupational Cost of Being Illegal in the United States: Legal Status, Job Hazards, and Compensating Differentials," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 406-442, June.
    5. Gordon H. Hanson & Raymond Robertson & Antonio Spilimbergo, 2002. "Does Border Enforcement Protect U.S. Workers From Illegal Immigration?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 73-92, February.
    6. Fernando Riosmena & Douglas S. Massey, 2012. "Pathways to El Norte: Origins, Destinations, and Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to the United States," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 3-36, March.
    7. Gathmann, Christina, 2008. "Effects of enforcement on illegal markets: Evidence from migrant smuggling along the southwestern border," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(10-11), pages 1926-1941, October.
    8. Hardy, L.J. & Getrich, C.M. & Quezada, J.C. & Guay, A. & Michalowski, R.J. & Henley, E., 2012. "A call for further research on the impact of state-level immigration policies on public health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(7), pages 1250-1254.
    9. Wayne A. Cornelius, 2001. "Death at the Border: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Control Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 661-685, December.
    10. Fox, Jonathan A, 2006. "Reframing Mexican Migration as a Multi-Ethnic Process," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt4nn6v8sk, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    11. Pia Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2003. "Do amnesty programs reduce undocumented immigration? Evidence from Irca," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(3), pages 437-450, August.
    12. Robert Warren & John Robert Warren, 2013. "Unauthorized Immigration to the United States: Annual Estimates and Components of Change, by State, 1990 to 2010," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 296-329, June.
    13. Jenna Nobles, 2013. "Migration and Father Absence: Shifting Family Structure in Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(4), pages 1303-1314, August.
    14. Marcela Cerrutti & Douglas Massey, 2001. "On the auspices of female migration from Mexico to the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(2), pages 187-200, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lisa Meierotto & Teresa Mares & Seth M. Holmes, 2020. "Introduction to the symposium: Bienestar—the well-being of Latinx farmworkers in a time of change," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(1), pages 187-196, March.
    2. Jennifer Scott & Joanna Mhairi Hale & Yolanda C. Padilla, 2021. "Immigration Status and Farmwork: Understanding the Wage and Income Gap Across U.S. Policy and Economic Eras, 1989–2016," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 861-893, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sarah Bohn & Todd Pugatch, 2015. "U.S. Border Enforcement and Mexican Immigrant Location Choice," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1543-1570, October.
    2. Altangerel, Khulan, 2019. "Essays on immigration policy," Other publications TiSEM 954c6300-249e-496c-8cef-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Florian Kaufmann, 2008. "Attracting Undocumented Immigrants: The Perverse Effects of U.S. Border Enforcement," Working Papers wp187, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    4. Conover Emily & Khamis Melanie & Pearlman Sarah, 2021. "Gender Imbalances and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Large-Scale Mexican Migration," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Giacomo Battiston, 2022. "Rescue on Stage: Border Enforcement and Public Attention in the Mediterranean Sea," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0292, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    6. Lori M. Hunter & Sheena Murray & Fernando Riosmena, 2013. "Rainfall Patterns and U.S. Migration from Rural Mexico," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 874-909, December.
    7. Cascio, Elizabeth U. & Lewis, Ethan G., 2019. "Distributing the Green (Cards): Permanent residency and personal income taxes after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 135-150.
    8. Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Park, Brian, 2022. "Rethinking border enforcement, permanent and circular migration," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Gordon H. Hanson, 2006. "Illegal Migration from Mexico to the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 869-924, December.
    10. Emmanuelle Auriol & Alice Mesnard, 2016. "Sale of Visas: a Smuggler's Final Song?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 83(332), pages 646-678, October.
    11. Mckenzie, David & Rapoport, Hillel, 2007. "Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: Theory and evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Manuela Angelucci, 2012. "US Border Enforcement and the Net Flow of Mexican Illegal Migration," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(2), pages 311-357.
    13. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & José R. Bucheli, 2023. "Implications of restrictive asylum policies: evidence from metering along the U.S.-Mexico Border," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1941-1962, July.
    14. Heepyung Cho, 2022. "Border enforcement and the sorting and commuting patterns of Hispanics," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 938-960, September.
    15. Rebecca Lessem, 2018. "Mexico–U.S. Immigration: Effects of Wages and Border Enforcement," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(4), pages 2353-2388.
    16. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2004. "What are the consequences of an amnesty for undocumented immigrants?," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2004-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    17. Raphael Nawrotzki & Fernando Riosmena & Lori Hunter, 2013. "Do Rainfall Deficits Predict U.S.-Bound Migration from Rural Mexico? Evidence from the Mexican Census," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 129-158, February.
    18. Erin R. Hamilton, 2015. "Gendered disparities in Mexico-U.S. migration by class, ethnicity, and geography," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(17), pages 533-542.
    19. Andrés Villarreal, 2014. "Explaining the Decline in Mexico-U.S. Migration: The Effect of the Great Recession," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2203-2228, December.
    20. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2001. "Do amnesty programs encourage illegal immigration? evidence from IRCA," Working Papers 0103, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:53:y:2016:i:5:d:10.1007_s13524-016-0505-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.