Migration to the United States from Indigenous Communities in Mexico

• DOI: 10.1177/0002716219848342
• Author: Jackelyn Hwang,Asad L. Asad
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Published date: 01 July 2019

120 ANNALS, AAPSS, 684, July 2019

DOI: 10.1177/0002716219848342

Migration to

the United

States from

Indigenous

Communities in

Mexico

By

ASAD L. ASAD

and

JACKELYN HWANG

848342ANN The Annals of the American AcademyMigration to the United States from Indigenous Communities in Mexico

research-article2019

Research on Mexican migration to the United States

has long noted how the characteristics of sending com-

munities structure individuals’ opportunities for inter-

national movement. This literature has seldom

considered the concentration of indigenous residents

(those with origins in pre-Hispanic populations) in

migrant-sending communities. Drawing on data from

143 communities surveyed by the Mexican Migration

Project, and supplemented with data from the Mexican

Census, this article uses multilevel models to describe

how the share of indigenous residents in a migrant-

sending community relates to different aspects of the

migratory process. We focus on (1) the decision to

migrate to the United States, and (2) the documenta-

tion used on migrants’ first U.S. trip. We do not find

that the concentration of indigenous residents in a

sending community is associated with the decision to

migrate to the United States. However, we do find that

people in communities with relatively high indigenous

populations are more likely to migrate as undocu-

mented rather than documented migrants. We con-

clude that the concentration of indigenous peoples in

communities likely indicates economic and social dis-

advantage, which limits the residents’ possibilities for

international movement.

Keywords: international migration; documentation

status; indigenous communities; place

stratification; Mexico; United States

About 11.6 million Mexicans lived in the

United States in 2013; half this population

was undocumented (Passel, Krogstad, and

Gonzalez-Barrera 2014; Migration Policy

Institute 2018). Demographers note how char-

acteristics of individuals’ origin communities—

such as their levels of economic development

Correspondence: asadasad@stanford.edu

Asad L. Asad was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center

for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University before

joining the faculty of Stanford University as an assis-

tant professor of sociology in 2019. His work focuses on

social stratification, migration and immigrant incorpo-

ration, and race/ethnicity.

MIGRATION AND INDIGENOUS COMUNITIES IN MEXICO 121

or varying histories of U.S. migration—structure opportunities for international

migration, including the documentation status held upon entry (e.g., Massey and

Espinosa 1997). However, few have considered how these characteristics overlap

with the share of indigenous residents—those persons with pre-Hispanic

ancestry—in a community. We argue that the context of indigeneity—the extent

to which places have relatively high shares of indigenous residents—is an impor-

tant consideration for understanding migratory processes (Fox 2006; Fox and

Rivera-Salgado 2004). Indeed, ethnographers and historians note that the context

of indigeneity represents a primary dimension of place stratification in Mexico in

that it is strongly associated with the uneven distribution of economic and social

resources (Batalla 1996; de la Peña 2006; Novo 2006; Zapata 2000). This article

takes a demographic approach, examining how this axis of inequality may influ-

ence Mexico-U.S. migration.

We investigate how having origins in an indigenous place relates to different

aspects of the migratory process. Specifically, we use data from 143 communities

surveyed by the Mexican Migration Project (MMP), supplemented with addi-

tional information on respondents’ larger economic and social contexts, to exam-

ine if the context of indigeneity is associated with (1) the decision to take a first

trip to the United States, and (2) the documentation status of migrants on their

first U.S. trip. Given ethnographic and historical research suggesting that indig-

enous density is associated with an uneven distribution of economic and social

resources across communities, we expect migrants from indigenous places to be

less likely than their counterparts in nonindigenous places to migrate to the

United States, and, among those who migrate, to be more likely than their coun-

terparts in nonindigenous places to do so without documentation.

We find that the context of indigeneity is associated with divergent pathways of

movement to the United States, but not always in straightforward ways. Although we

do not find that the context of indigeneity is related to the likelihood of first migration

to the United States, we do find that people who migrate from high-indigenous

places are more likely to do so in undocumented than in documented status. We

conclude that the share of indigenous residents in a community is related to the

reproduction of social inequality in Mexico-U.S. migration: places with relatively high

indigenous populations are likely to be sites of concentrated economic and social

disadvantage, and they limit residents’ options for international movement.

Mexico-U.S. Migration: Economics, Networks, Policy, and

the Context of Indigeneity

Here, we review the dominant micro- (i.e., individual or household) and macro-

(i.e., ecological) level explanations for international migration, specifying how

Jackelyn Hwang is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Stanford

University. Her main research interests are in the fields of urban sociology, race and ethnicity,

immigration, and inequality.