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Introduction

More than 4 million Mexican migrants have been deported from the United States since 2008. During the same period, a significant number of Mexican migrants returned, forcibly or voluntarily, to Mexico as a result of family obligations, unfavorable economic and labor market conditions in the United States, and stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration policy and laws. The exodus of Mexican migrants from the United States has entailed an equally significant departure of U.S. citizen spouses and children to Mexico. This has contributed to an extraordinary growth of the U.S.-citizen population in Mexico, with Mexico now outpacing Canada and the European Union as the home of the largest U.S. population outside of the United States. While no official count exists of the number of U.S. citizens leaving the United States due to deportation or return migration, the U.S. State Department estimates that 1.6 million Americans now live in Mexico. Based on Mexican school records, more than 550,000 of these are the U.S.-born children of Mexican migrants. Though the State Department recognizes the vulnerability of young U.S. citizens in Mexico, there have not yet been significant or consistent efforts to identify affected U.S. citizens, through either official counting or citizen services outreach. Such efforts can no longer be delayed since, based on interviews with displaced U.S. citizens in Mexico, a vast majority of them intend to return to the United States one day.

The need for a census and assessment of needs is key, given that citizens who emigrate with their Mexican family members often experience persistent disadvantages in Mexico, including the inability to access U.S. or Mexican documentation, limited or no access to health services and preventative health care, job disintegration, restricted mobility, and reduced educational attainment. Moreover, the loss of language, identity, culture, and community further contribute to future social vulnerability if these individuals later decide to reenter U.S. society. Given the serious and simultaneous barriers and vulnerabilities U.S. citizens face in Mexico, this report maintains that, without improved consular services and a diaspora policy that anticipates the likely return of these Americans, the United States risks re-inheriting a U.S. population now the size of Delaware, which may well require critical government services to reintegrate after a prolonged period abroad.

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