Many migratory streams from Central America — including refugees, economic migrants, and transit flows headed north from South America and elsewhere — have converged in North America since the 1980s. Sarah J. Mahler and Dusan Ugrina of Florida International University outline the region's main trends.
Since the 1980s, Mexico has become home to Guatemalan refugees and served as a transit country for Central Americans seeking to reach the United States. Manuel Ángel Castillo of El Colegio de México analyzes Mexico's policies toward its southern neighbors.
Of the 5.7 million children of immigrants under age 10 in the United States, 37 percent of them are of Mexican origin. Recent data shed light on their prospects for integration and social and economic mobility, according to Roger Waldinger of the University of California Los Angeles.
An estimated 10.3 million unauthorized migrants were living in the U.S. in 2004. Jennifer Van Hook, Frank Bean, and Jeff Passell report on who they are, where they live, the work they do, and their levels of education and poverty.
Mexican negotiators seek shared responsibility over U.S.-Mexico migration issues, according to Gustavo Mohar, former chief negotiator for migration affairs at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S..
Jeffrey Passel of the Urban Institute provides a context for understanding the presence of roughly 5.3 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants in the United States.
MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou maps out the historic challenges and opportunities in U.S.-Mexico relations in the wake of President Bush's immigration reform proposal.
MPI Policy Analyst Deborah Waller Meyers examines the Smart Border agreements signed by the U.S. with Canada and Mexico in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University sketches the big picture of skilled migration, touching on both negative impacts and positive feedback for developing states.
Manuel Orozco of Inter-American Dialogue examines the increasing relevance of economic ties between diasporas and home country economies in Latin America.
The Sept. 11 attacks prompted greater government scrutiny of undocumented immigrants in the United States. MPI Research Assistant Kevin O'Neil takes a look at how many Mexicans living in the U.S. without authorization have turned to a Mexican government ID called the "matrícula consular" to better establish their identity.
Director of the Pew Hispanic Center, Roberto Suro, looks at how the flagging U.S. economy has not kept Latino immigrants from sending money back to their homelands.
Large-scale migration from Mexico to the United States is expected to continue well into the next decade. MPI Co-Director Demetrios Papademetriou looks at attempts to move the U.S.-Mexico migration relationship from one mired in problems and recriminations to one yielding important and reciprocal economic and national security benefits.
