Stories of migration from some of the best young journalists in Mexico, Central America and the United States
Mely Arellano and Monica Ortiz reporting from Mexico
Remittance money is often touted as a quick route to economic development. It's true that migrants often leave for the US with dreams of returning after years of hard work to start a business in their hometowns. But when they do, they often find themselves yearning for a return to the US: not only have their dreams changed over the years, but few have the money or the acumen to launch successful businesses. That is worrying news for the 6 million Mexicans forecast to return home over the next decade.
March 26, 2015
Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula juts into the Caribbean like a defiant fist and, 3,000 miles away, the San Francisco Bay Area looks like a miniature version of it.
The two may be separated by distance, but they depend on each other. The Yucatán needs the work and San Francisco needs the workers. Their decades-long relationship has developed into something of a love affair, which returning migrants find hard to forget.
But for the migrants' relatives who've stayed behind, the benefits of immigration have begun to lose their luster.
In the city of Oxkutzcab, in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatán …
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March 25, 2015
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July 4, 2015
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Sept. 20, 2015
Juan Carlos Chablé tardó tres años en enamorar a su esposa. Cuando al fin aceptó casarse con él, la llevó a vivir con sus papás, pero ella quería su propia casa. Entonces él se fue a Estados Unidos. Trabajó 2 años y medio ganando mil 800 dólares al mes (20 mil pesos, según el tipo de cambio de entonces), enviando entre 10 mil y 13 mil pesos mensuales con los que pudo construir la casa y comprarse un mototaxi. Hoy tiene un ingreso de seis mil pesos al mes, una deuda de siete mil, dos hijos y una casa, pero …
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