Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Migration of Children from Mexico to the USA in the Early 2000s

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Population Research and Policy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Children comprise a significant share of immigrants around the world, yet scholarship has largely treated children as adult-like or adult-following actors in migration. We explore how the early life course and parents’ migration structured children’s migration from Mexico to the USA from 2002 to 2005, using the Mexican Family Life Survey, national survey data from Mexico that tracked 854 migrants, including 375 children, to the USA. We find that while parents’ migration decisions matter at all ages, young children who migrate are nearly always accompanied by their parents, whereas the minority of adolescents are. Primary school-aged children and accompanied adolescents migrate in response to community violence and barriers to education, suggesting that their migration reflects concerns about where it is best to raise children. Adolescents who migrate without their parents do so in response to economic factors, much like adults; however, adolescents also respond to youth community migration prevalence, suggesting that youth-specific norms of migration frame their decision-making. The results show how the early life course structures three distinct profiles of child migration: complete dependents, children whose location choices reflect concerns about schools and safety, and near independents. More generally, the determinants and process of migration shift as parental oversight declines and social structures beyond the family—community violence, access to education, youth norms, gender, and labor markets—emerge as important.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Source: Mexican Family Life Survey 2002–2005

Fig. 2

*Child migration prevalence is measured by the percent of Mexico-US migrants from 1995 to 2000 in the community of origin who were under age 18 at the time of migration. Source: Mexican Family Life Survey 2002–2005, 2000 Census

Fig. 3

Source: Mexican Family Life Survey 2002–2005

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Although the third wave of the MxFLS, collected between 2009–2015, is publicly available, data on US migrants—those in the United States at the time of the third wave interview—had not yet been released at the time of this writing, so we could not analyze US migration through 2015 in the MxFLS.

  2. We do not know what specific age individuals in the MxFLS migrated, only whether or not they migrated between 2002 and 2005, meaning that children who were 15–17 in 2002 may have aged into adulthood by the time of migration. We conducted all analyses on the sample of children who were under 18 in 2002 and those who were under 15 in 2002. Further, we estimated models controlling for marriage, cohabitation, and parenthood among adolescents. The results were consistent with those presented.

  3. We examined the timing of migration of Mexican children and parents who migrated to the United States between 2002 and 2005 using the 2002–2014 American Communities Survey (Ruggles et al. 2017). Among Mexican born respondents who migrated to the United States prior to age 18 between 2002 and 2005, 87% migrated in the same year as their mother and 75% migrated in the same year as their father, suggesting a high rate of accompaniment if we assume that children and parents who migrated in the same year migrated together.

  4. We did not find other significant interactions between gender and other covariates in the model. We cannot determine if gender does not differentiate the forces generating migration of children or if we do not have power to detect those effects given the number of female child migrants in our data is small.

References

  • Aburto, J. M., Beltrán-Sánchez, H., García-Guerrero, V. M., & Canudas-Romo, V. (2016). Homicides in Mexico reversed life expectancy gains for men and slowed them for women, 2000–2010. Health Affairs, 35(1), 88–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ali, S. (2007). ‘Go west young man’: The culture of migration among muslims in India. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(1), 37–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allerton, C. (2018). Impossible children: Illegality and excluded belonging among children of migrants in Sabah, East Malaysia. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(7), 1081–1097.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azaola, M. C. (2012). Becoming a migrant: Aspirations of youths during their transition to adulthood in rural Mexico. Journal of Youth Studies, 15(7), 875–889.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baca Tavira, N., Bautista León, A., & Román Reyes, P. (2019). Implicaciones de la migración internacional en la dinámica escolar del estudiantado de licenciatura de la UAEM. In N. Baca Tavira, A. Bautista León, & A. Mojica Madrigal (Eds.), Jóvenes y migraciones (pp. 143–160). Mexico: Gedisa Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boehm, D. A. (2008). 'For my children': Constructing Family and navigating the State in the U.S.-Mexico Transnation. Anthropological Quarterly, 81(4), 777–802.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broughton, C. (2008). Migration as engendered practice: Mexican men, masculinity, and northward migration. Gender & Society, 22(5), 568–589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bushin, N. (2009). Researching family migration decision-making: A children-in-families approach. Population, Space and Place, 15(5), 429–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bylander, M. (2015). Contested mobilities: Gendered migration pressures among cambodian youth. Gender, Place & Culture, 22(8), 1124–1140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerrutti, M., & Massey, D. S. (2001). On the auspices of female migration from Mexico to the United States. Demography, 38(2), 187–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chavez, L., & Menjívar, C. (2010). Children without borders: A mapping of the literature on unaccompanied migrant children to the United States. Migraciones Internacionales, 5(3), 71–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, R. L., Glick, J. E., & Bures, R. M. (2009). Immigrant families over the life course: Research directions and needs. Journal of Family Issues, 30(6), 852–872.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coe, C. (2012). Growing up and going abroad: How Ghanaian children imagine transnational migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(6), 913–931.

    Google Scholar 

  • CONAPO (2015). Proyecciones de la población 2010–2015 [Population projections 2010–2015]. Retrieved January 2017 from https://www.conapo.gob.mx/.

  • Coubes, M. L. & Zenteno R. (2005). Transicion hacia la vida adulta: Salida de la escuela, inicio del empleo y entrada en union de hombres y mujeres en Mexico. [Transition to adulthood: Exit from schooling, starting work, and entrance to unions of men and women in Mexico.] In M. L. Coubes, M. E. Zavala, & Zenteno R. (Eds.), Cambio Demografico y Social en el Mexico del Siglo XX. Una Perspectiva de Historias de Vida, (pp. 313–353). Mexico: Cámara de Diputados, Escuela de Graduados en Administración Pública y Política Pública del Tecnológico de Monterrey, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte y Miguel Angel Porrúa.

  • Dobson, M. E. (2009). Unpacking children in migration research. Children's Geographies, 7(3), 355–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donato, K. M., & Gabaccia, D. (2015). Gender and international migration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donato, K. M., & Sisk, B. (2015). Children’s migration to the United States from Mexico and Central America: Evidence from the Mexican and Latin American Migration Projects. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 3(1), 58–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donato, K. M., & Perez, S. L. (2017). Crossing the Mexico-US border: Illegality and children’s migration to the United States. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(4), 116–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreby, J. (2007). Children and power in Mexican transnational families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(4), 1050–1064.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreby, J. (2010). Divided by borders: Mexican migrants and their children. Berkeley, CA: Univ of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreby, J., & Stutz, L. (2012). Making something of the sacrifice: Gender, migration, and mexican children's educational aspirations. Global Networks, 12(1), 71–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fussell, E. (2005). Measuring the early adult life course in Mexico: An application of the Entropy Index. Advances in Life Course Research, 9, 91–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, K. (2012). Transnational migration and the study of children: An introduction. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(6), 889–912.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giorguli, S., G., Silvia, G.-G., Victor, M., & Masferrer, C. (2016). A migration system in the making: Demographic dynamics and migration policies in North America and the Northern Triangle of Central America. Mexico City, Mexico: El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Demográficos, Urbanos y Ambientales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giorguli-Saucedo, S., & Serratos I (2009) El Impacto de la Migración Internacional Sobre la Asistencia Escolar: ¿Paradojas de la Migración? [The impact of international migration on school enrollment: Migration Paradox?]. In L. Paula & S. E. Giorguli (Eds.) El Estado de la Migración. Las Políticas Públicas ante los Retos de la Migración Mexicana a Estados Unidos, (pp. 313–344). Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Población.

  • Glick, J. E., & Yabiku, S. T. (2016). Migrant children and migrants’ children: Nativity differences in school enrollment in Mexico and the United States. Demographic Research, 35(8), 201–228.

    Google Scholar 

  • González-Ferrer, A., Baizán, P., & Beauchemin, C. (2012). Child-parent separations among Senegalese migrants to Europe: Migration strategies or cultural arrangements? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 643(1), 106–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grotevant, H. D., & Cooper, C. R. (1986). Individuation in family relationships. Human Development, 29(2), 82–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, E. R. (2015). Gendered disparities in Mexico-US migration by class, ethnicity, and geography. Demographic Research, 32, 533–542.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, E. R., & Savinar, R. (2015). Two sources of error in data on migration from Mexico to the United States in Mexican household-based surveys. Demography, 52(4), 1345–1355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hashim, I. (2007). Independent child migration and education in Ghana. Development and Change, 38(5), 911–931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckert, J. (2015). New perspective on youth migration: Motives and family investment patterns. Demographic Research, 33(27), 765–800.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helwig, C. C. (2006). The development of personal autonomy throughout cultures. Cognitive Development, 21(4), 458–473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huijsmans, R. (2011). Child migration and questions of agency. Development and Change, 42(5), 1307–1321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, T. (2011). ‘They told us in a curry shop’: Child-adult relations in the context of family migration decision-making. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(8), 1219–1235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobo-Suárez, M. (2017). De regreso a “casa” y sin apostilla: Estudiantes mexicoamericanos en México/Back home without apostille: Mexican-American students in Mexico. Sinéctica, 48, 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandel, W., & Massey, D. S. (2002). The culture of Mexican migration: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Social Forces, 80(3), 981–1004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindstrom, D. P., & Giorguli, S. G. (2007). The interrelationship of fertility, family maintenance, and Mexico-U.S. migration. Demographic Research, 17(28), 821–858.

    Google Scholar 

  • López Castro, G. (2007). Niños, socialización y migración a Estados Unidos. [Children, socialization, and migration to the United States]. In M. Ariza & A. Portes (Eds.), El País Transnacional: Migración Mexicana y Cambio Social a través de la Fontera (pp. 513–545). DF, Mexico: UNAM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masferrer, C., Hamilton, E. R., & Denier, N. (2019). Immigrants in their parental homeland: Half a million US-born minors settle throughout Mexico. Demography, 56(4), 1453–1461.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., Durand, J., & Pren, K. (2016). Why border enforcement backfired. American Journal of Sociology, 121(5), 1557–1600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., & Espinosa, K. E. (1997). What's driving Mexico-US migration? A theoretical, empirical, and policy analysis. American Journal of Sociology, 102(4), 939–999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, J. F., Santibanez, L., & Mori, E. E. S. (2013). Educational opportunity and immigration in México: Exploring the individual and systemic relationships. Teachers College Record, 115(10), 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Medina, D., & Menjívar, C. (2015). The context of return migration: Challenges of mixed-status families in Mexico's schools. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(12), 2123–2139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meza, L., & Pederzini, C. (2009) Migración internacional y escolaridad como medios alternativos de movilidad social: El Caso de México. [International migration and schooling as alternative means to social mobility: The case of Mexico] Estudios Económicos (Numero Extraordinario/Special Edition), pp. 163–206.

  • Myroniuk, T. W., White, M. J., Gross, M., Wang, R., Ginsburg, C., & Collinson, M. (2018). Does it take a village? Migration among rural South African youth. Population Research and Policy Review, 37(6), 1079–1108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieri, T., Hoffman, S., Marsigli, F. F., & Kulis, S. S. (2012). Interpersonal violence and its association with US migration desires and plans among youths in Guanajuato, Mexico. Journal of International Migration & Integration, 13, 365–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orellana, M. F., Thorne, B., Chee, A., & Lam, W. S. (2001). Transnational childhoods: The participation of children in processes of family migration. Social Problems, 48(4), 572–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Passel, J., Cohn, D., & Gonzalez-Barerra, A. (2012). Net migration from Mexico falls to zero—and perhaps less. Washington DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Román Gonzalez, B., & Zúñiga, V. (2014). Children returning from the US to Mexico: School sweet school? Migraciones Internacionales, 7(4), 277–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubalcava, L., & Teruel, G. (2007) User´s guide: Mexican family life survey 2005. Retrieved July 28, 2014 from https://www.ennvih-mxfls.org/.

  • Ruehs, E. M. (2017). Adventures in El Norte: The identities and immigration of unaccompanied youth. Men and Masculinities, 20(3), 364–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles, S., Genadek, K., Goeken, R., Grover, J., & Sobek, M. (2017). Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 7.0. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

  • Ryan, L., & Sales, R. (2013). Family migration: The role of children and education in family decision-making strategies of polish migrants in London. International Migration, 51(2), 90–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) (2012). Sistema Educativo de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Principales Cifras, Ciclo Escolar 2011–2012. DF, Mexico: SEP. Retrieved January 1, 2020, from https://www.sep.gob.mx/es/sep1/sep1_Estadisticas.

  • Teruel, G., Rubalcava, L., & Arenas, E. (2012). Migration in the Mexican family life survey. In A. Cuecuecha & C. Pederzini (Eds.), Migration and remittances from Mexico: Trends, impacts, and new challenges. Landham MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, C. M., Torres-Pereda, P., Minnis, A. M., & Bautista-Arredondo, S. A. (2012). Migration decision-making among Mexican youth: Individual, family, and community influences. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 35(1), 61–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN Population Division. (2015). Trends in international migration stock: The 2015 revision. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valle, V., & Eunice, D. (2015). A decade of changes: Formal education and transborder linkages of young people in highly urbanized areas of the northern border. Estudios Fronterizos, 16(32), 74–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Villarreal, A. (2014). Explaining the decline in Mexico-US migration: The effect of the great recession. Demography, 51(6), 2203–2228.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, A., Laoire, C. N., Tyrrell, N., & Carpena-Mendez, F. (2011). Children's roles in transnational migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(8), 1159–1170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wray-Lake, L., Crouter, A. C., & McHale, S. M. (2010). Developmental patterns in decision-making autonomy across middle childhood and adolescence: European American parents’ perspectives. Child Development, 81(2), 636–651.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yaqub, S. (2009). Independent child migrants in developing countries: Unexplored links in migration and development. Florence, IT: Innocenti Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zenteno, R., Giorguli, S. E., & Gutiérrez, E. (2013). Mexican adolescent migration to the United States and transitions to adulthood. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 648(1), 18–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zúñiga, V. (2013). Migrantes internacionales en las escuelas mexicanas: Desafíos actuales y futuros de política educativa. Sinéctica, 40, 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zúñiga, V., & Hamann, E. T. (2015). Going to a home you have never been to: The return migration of Mexican and American-Mexican children. Children's Geographies, 13(6), 643–655.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R03HD084877. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We thank Jenna Nobles and Fernando Lozano-Ascencio for their comments on early versions of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of California at Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Erin R. Hamilton

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, USA

    Maryann Bylander

Authors
  1. Erin R. Hamilton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maryann Bylander
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin R. Hamilton.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hamilton, E.R., Bylander, M. The Migration of Children from Mexico to the USA in the Early 2000s. Popul Res Policy Rev 40, 337–361 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09591-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-020-09591-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation