My project examines the migration of Mexicans to the state of Minnesota with the aim of assessing their experiences and their impact on this state. The analysis draws from secondary data analysis as I look into the existing research data to answer different questions and support my arguments. The paper reviews immigration theories present, a historical analysis of migration in general, and centers on the influence of Mexican migration on Minnesota. The paper is organized into the following four sections: Modern immigration theories, historical and contemporary Mexican migration to the U.S., Mexican migrants in Minnesota, and Mexican migration trends in the early 21st Century. My key interest in this analysis is to better understand how migrants might contribute to their new home state while also trying to acknowledge and understand the multiple hardships that they might go through during migration as well as at various stages in their settlement. I hope my project helps us better understand the connections between these migrants, mainstream dominant groups, and our institutions in the Midwest as well as across the U.S.

The welfare magnet hypothesis postulates that individual interstate migration decisions are influenced by differences between state welfare policies. The Minnesota Paradox, then, purports that the state’s liberal welfare policies result in massive in-migration of poor Black welfare recipients from other states. States like Minnesota with generous welfare benefits and low eligibility thresholds, according to this hypothesis, act as welfare magnets and attract poor people. This suggests a measurable, widening economic gap between migrants and non-migrants. This study tests the hypotheses that a) the probability of welfare recipiency was higher in Minnesota for migrants vs non-migrants and that b) the racial gap in welfare recipiency widened in Minnesota after the implementation of welfare reforms mandating national lifetime limits for receipt of welfare benefits. To test these hypotheses, we estimate linear probability models with year and county fixed effects using the public census micro-samples for 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. We estimate separate welfare recipiency equations for Black non-Hispanics vs White non-Hispanics and for migrants vs non-migrants and test the hypothesis that in the post-Welfare Reform years, racial gaps in welfare recipiency widened as a result of in-migration of Blacks receiving welfare. The preliminary results, not taking into account contextual factors, show that in Minnesota, Blacks have higher probabilities of welfare recipiency than whites across all samples, both for interstate-migrants and non-migrants. White non-migrants have significantly higher probabilities than migrants of welfare recipiency from 1970-1990, while non-migrants have higher probabilities in 2000, the first census taken after the federal welfare reform.

U.S. asylum policies in place in our current context of massive migration from Central and South America and the COVID pandemic are forcing asylum-seeking migrants to remain in the city of Tijuana, Mexico temporarily while they wait for their turn to be processed into the US. This research explores how gendered notions of motherhood influence the decision-making processes of asylum-seeking mothers “stuck” in the city of Tijuana. While much research has been done on the gendered experiences of migrant mothers that have already arrived at their place of destination, little conversation is taking place on migrant mothers “stuck” in-between their place of origin and their destination. Through in-depth interviews, I look into what influences the decisions taken by these asylum-seeking mothers stuck in Mexico and what policies should be implemented by the U.S. and Mexican governments to ensure their safety. The initial results of 10 interviews indicate that the trauma that they carry from their hometowns, the fear of being found by the people they are fleeing from, and the fear of the violence in Tijuana, makes it difficult for these women to work, as they are afraid to leave the place they currently reside and to leave their children in the care of someone else. Therefore, they rely on support from local non-profit organizations and their acquaintances. Current migration policies from the U.S and Mexico are not providing aid to this community. These policies have to take into account their position as women, mothers, and migrants.

The factors of Honduran migration have often been explained from the economic conditions caused by Honduran officials, multinational corporations, and US state officials. Scholars have identified the role of US intervention through covert secret intelligence operations and direct political interference as reasons for the current exponential increase of migrants from Honduras. Furthermore, deep social issues such as anti-indigenous, racist, sexist, and homophobic ideologies in Honduras are also contributing factors pushing many people to migrate. However, little attention has been placed on the role of land concessions and its subsequent effects on the current wave of immigration. To help better explain these dynamics and how it has translated into the emigration of Hondurans this project will look at land-concessions given to large corporations in Honduras and its effects on the uprooting of indigenous communities, and displacement of small farmers and artisans as major factors prompting the current wave of Honduran immigrants to the US. From colonization to the current land-grabs of ZEDEs, I will discuss how the exploitative nature of these multinational corporations have a negative impact on jobs, basic needs, and the lack of government support to address the issues of state welfare. This project also analyzes the social movements created as a response to these neoliberal policies in Honduras starting with the 1954 Honduran National Strike to the uprising of liberation theology, and the current movement of Honduran people opposing ZEDEs and land developments. This study uses qualitative methods and archival research to analyze the Central American writers' perspectives and other authors from the region telling their stories. Central American migration in general and Honduran immigration in particular are a growing field of international migration studies and this project contributes to this discussion by including the experiences and analysis of Central American authors to the debate. Finally, I delve into US State archives as well as Honduran Newspapers covering events and Honduran social movements. This analysis provides an alternative perspective and alternative answers o to the question what is the role of the implementation of neoliberal land policies in the contemporary mass migration of people from Honduras.