The Rural Exodus in Mexico and Mexican Migration to the United States 1

Abstract

During the 1950s, labor conditions in the United States attrated Mexican migrants, mostly from rural areas, in sharply fluctuating patterns of active recruitment, laissez-faire or repatriation. Because these two movements have varied simultaneously and because they are interrelated, it has been assumed that the rural exodus in Mexico generally explains the flow of migrants across the border to the United States. This article argues that they must be analyzed instead as two distinct movements. Data presented show that most of the migrants created by the prevailing conditions in Mexican rural villages settle within Mexico, and that only specific types of migrants are attracted over the border.