Social capital, social policy and migration from traditional communities and new communities with origins in Mexico

Abstract

In this article we analyze patterns of emigration and return to Mexican communities located in traditional migratory regions and in new emigration communities. The traditional communities of origin are located in the states to the far west of Mexico
and the new origin communities are located to the south of Mexico City or in states near the Mexico- U.S. border. We estimate discrete time event history models predicting the likelihood of departure and return on first trips to the United States, and departure and return on subsequent trips. In both sets of communities we find that social capital is critical in raising the odds of departure on a first trip, but declines in importance in predicting the odds of departure on later trips, which are influenced more by migration-related human capital. Migrants from both sets of communities use international migration as a means of financing the acquisition of homes and businesses, but migrants from the new origin communities seek businesses first and then homes while among those from traditional communities it is the reverse. The efforts made by the United States to prevent Mexico-U.S. migration by militarizing the border have failed, especially among migrants from traditional sending communities with wellestablished migratory traditions and great access to migration-specific human and social capital.