Migration Permanence and Village Decline in Zacatecas: When You Can't Go Home Again

Abstract

At the same time that the Third World has become more dependent on international wage-labor migration, developed countries have become less hospitable to this migration. This inhospitality is beginning to have negative repercussions on rural sending regions such as north-central Mexico. This study is based on a survey of a stratified random sample of households in Villanueva municipio (county), Zacatecas, in 1988 and again in 2002, employing the same questions and methodology. The results suggest that restrictive U.S. border policies over this period have had a negative impact on village economies in the municipio. Although migrant families continued to hold a distinctive edge on nonmigrant families in terms of possessions and productive investments, there was a decline overall in levels of investment and remittances in the municipio. In the latter year, Villanueva had more nonmigrant families as well as more families with permanent migrants—both trends leading to less money remitted to rural families and lower agricultural investments. Observations and interviews with migrants and townspeople in the municipio in 2005 and 2008 strongly corroborate these trends. Rural villages are facing depopulation, disinvestment and, it might be argued, a deterioration of hope for the future.

Al tiempo que el Tercer Mundo se ha hecho más dependiente de la migración internacional de asalariados, los países desarrollados se tornan menos hospitalarios a esta migración. Tal falta de hospitalidad empieza a tener repercusiones negativas en regiones rurales generadoras de migrantes, como la parte centro-norte de México. El estudio se basa en una encuesta con muestra aleatoria estratificada en hogares del municipio de Villanueva, Zacatecas, en 1988 y de nuevo en 2002, con la aplicación de las mismas preguntas y metodología. Los resultados sugieren que las políticas fronterizas restrictivas del lado estadounidense durante este período han tenido impacto negativo sobre las economías aldeanas del municipio. Aunque las familias de migrantes siguen mostrando una condición aventajada respecto de las no migrantes, en términos de posesiones e inversiones productivas, las observaciones más recientes muestran un declive general en los niveles de inversión y remesas. En el último año, Villanueva tenía más familias no migratorias lo mismo que más familias con migrantes permanentes—ambas tendencias indicadoras de que habría menos dinero remitido a las familias campesinas y menores inversiones agrícolas. Nuevas observaciones y entrevistas con migrantes y lugareños del municipio, en 2005 y 2008, corroboran con fuerza estas tendencias. Las aldeas rurales están sufriendo de despoblamiento, desinversión y, podría decirse, de deterioro de la esperanza en el futuro.

Key Words:

• border restrictions
• international wage-labor migration
• Mexico
• permanent migration

关键词:

• 边界限制
• 国际劳资迁移
• 墨西哥
• 永久移民

Palabras clave:

• restricciones fronterizas
• migración internacional de asalariados
• México
• migración permanente

RICHARD C. JONES is a Professor of Geography in the Department of Political Science and Geography at The University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249-0648. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include the impacts of international migration on origin areas, migrant adjustment in cities, and the social and economic geography of small towns in the Southwest.

Notes

^a Index records how many of the following possessions the household had at the time of interview: television, refrigerator, sewing machine, stereo, truck, nondirt floor, more than six hectares of land, and more than four rooms in the house. The index can range in value from 0 to 8.

^a Index records how many of the following possessions the household had at the time of interview: television, refrigerator, sewing machine, stereo, truck, nondirt floor, more than six hectares of land, and more than four rooms in the house. The index can range in value from 0 to 8.

^a Index records how many of the following possessions the household had at the time of interview: television, refrigerator, sewing machine, stereo, truck, nondirt floor, more than six hectares of land, and more than four rooms in the house. The index can range in value from 0 to 8.