Back Home: Household Composition and Economic Resources of Returnees from the U.S. in Mexico

Claudia Masferrer, McGill University
Carla Pederzini, Universidad Iberoamericana

Return migration to Mexico increased dramatically from 280,051 in 2000 to 985,383 migrants in 2010. At the same time, mainly driven by minors born in US from Mexican parents, the number of individuals born in the U.S. who were living there five years before the Census more than doubled from 2000 to 2010. Youngsters below 18 born in the US explain most of this increase. Immigration from the U.S. is highly related to return migration to Mexico. In fact, in 2010, 71 percent of those born in the U.S. lived in Mexico with at least one Mexican parent. In this paper, using the Mexican Census of 2010, we explore the relationship between the demographic composition and welfare situation of households exposed to return migration. In a time when the returnee population is increasingly comprised of deportees, voluntary returnees and their US-born children, understanding family return is of first importance.