This interdisciplinary study examines Mexican migration to the United States from the perspectives of anthropology, sociology, and demography. The authors apply six principles of migration to four Mexican communities: two rural (Altamira and Chamitlán) and two urban (Santiago and San Marcos, a barrio of Guadalajara). All are in Jalisco except Chamitlán, which is in neighboring Michoacán. The work covers three periods of emigration from Mexico: the Porfiriato, the agrarian reform years, and agricultural modernization in the 1960s. These coincided with periods in U. S. history when laborers were needed: the end of European immigration, the bracero movement (which stemmed from World War II labor needs), and rapid growth in the 1960s coupled with the Vietnam War.
Of particular interest is the authors’ consensus on the Mexican experience in the United States. For example, did a migrant’s legal status or origin affect the ability to integrate? After 15 years, these factors, surprisingly, seemed to have been neutralized and to have made no difference to integration. In answer to the frequent charge that immigrants are a drain on social services, this study indicates that migrants made little use of social services except for education (often children were U.S. citizens), health services, and, to a much lesser degree, unemployment compensation. Significantly, in a study of 105 undocumented workers who received medical care, all reported that relatives, employers, or health insurance covered their expenses. While migrants eventually became fully integrated into the United States, it was not uncommon for the first generation to retire to Mexico with Social Security checks or pensions.
Los ausentes illustrates how migration to the United States is the culmination of the internal migration process in Mexico, a familiar pattern in immigration history. Jalisco’s capital and Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, was the transitional step for many migrants. Indeed, one-third of that city’s growth is due to rural migrants from Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Michoacán.
Migration specialists will profit from the detailed data recorded in numerous charts and tables for each community, while generalists will gain a better understanding of the complex migration process through this interdisciplinary approach. The authors provide abundant documentation throughout and a useful bibliography of English and Spanish sources. Finally, legislators and bureaucrats would do well to read this book. It shows how thoroughly the migration process is integrated into the socioeconomic life of communities in both Mexico and the United States. While it was not the intent of either the Mexican or U.S. government to promote emigration on such a massive scale, it has happened. Now the United States is looking for ways to limit it, but after 40 years of international emigration, the process is institutionalized to the point that, as the authors conclude, the human and financial costs of ending it would be prohibitive.
