CNN's Rafael Romo recently reported that “by at least one measure, illegal immigration is not the problem … it used to be for the United States,” noting that according to Border Patrol statistics, “the number of arrests of people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has decreased sharply in the last five years” (“Border Arrests of Undocumented Immigrants down 58% in 5 Years,” in MAARS News, May 12, 2011). The federal government, which concurs with Romo, attributes the decline to heightened internal and border security measures—the deployment of a greater number of border patrol agents, employer raids, improved technology for border monitoring, and so on. While researchers have agreed that these measures are a factor, they have not viewed them as the main reason behind the change. They maintain instead that fewer undocumented immigrants have been crossing the border due to the US economic crisis and its impact on the labor market. Researchers have been likewise unconvinced that the economic crisis will result in a mass return migration of Mexicans presently living in the United States, as suggested in several media outlets. Until Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis, edited by Wayne Cornelius and his colleagues, however, no systematic research had supported these arguments.

In early 2009, 38 researchers participating in the Mexican Migration Field Research Program (MMFRP) based in the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, in partnership with Mexican institutions, set out to study the town of Tunkas in the Mexican state of Yucatan—a community previously studied by the MMFRP in 2006. Motivated by a desire to further their understanding of the impact of economic downturns on migrants and population movements—a subject largely untouched in the international migration field—the research team conducted 1,031 in-home survey interviews and more than 500 hours of unstructured interviews among Tunkaseños 15 to 65 years of age living in Tunkas itself and in the Tunkaseños satellite communities of Southern California. By means of a systematic combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, for example, cross-section time series data models, the book substantiates the notion that reduced flows to the United States are responding to economic conditions and will likely increase once conditions improve in the country.

One might question the legitimacy of generalizing about Mexican migrant groups on the basis of one particular group. It is important to note, however, as does the MMFRP team, that according to other survey and ethnographic studies conducted in Mexican communities since the late 1980s, Tunkas “is broadly representative of indigenous communities of emigration in southern Mexico” (p. ix). That said, Mexican Migration reinforces the classical theoretical explanation for the reasons people migrate, to wit, that migration occurs when a cost–benefit calculation leads individuals to expect positive net returns from migrating. The book offers additional insight—the fruit of a detailed probing of the strategies used by migrants coping with crisis. Findings include the following: 1) Tunkaseños migrate in search of employment in the United States—a group comprising predominantly men—and to be reunited with family members—a group comprising predominantly women; 2) the decision to migrate ultimately depends on the particular circumstances of a given family; 3) the “economic crisis has not spurred substantial return migration” (p. x); rather, Tunkaseños in the United States are determined to weather the storm by depending more heavily on family support networks, reducing living expenses, and sending less money to relatives in Tunkas; and 4) while increased security enforcement encourages Tunkaseños to remain on the American side of the border, it also facilitates internal migration within Mexico by forcing those in Tunkas to seek employment in other, more urban, areas of the country.

These findings are significant in that, as previously stated, they go beyond the classical explanations for migration—properly viewed by some as mere stimulators of migration—and delve more deeply into migration dynamics, into the perpetuators of migration. In this way, the findings highlight the complexity of the migration phenomenon, considering not merely the economic and political structures inherent in migration but the role played by the values, hopes, expectations, and social and symbolic ties among migrants. In other words, the book approaches the phenomenon of migration—its causes and consequences—as a multidimensional event, incorporating a sociological and even anthropological perspective to gain a proper understanding of why people migrate and how they cope with periods of instability.

In its multidimensional approach to migration, the book makes a valuable contribution to the study of migration, particularly with respect to the effects of migration on family dynamics. Whereas the bulk of the research focuses on international migration, specifically on migration from sending to receiving nations, rather than on migration within the sending nation, this study includes additional levels of comparison. First, the various types of migration—whether internal, that is, the migration of Mexican nationals within Mexico, or mixed, that is, international and internal migration—are examined. Second, the researchers use a split-level analysis to frame their discussion of the various types of migration families—those comprising migrants and parents, migrants and spouses, or migrants and children.

This comparative analysis is the focus of Chapter 8, entitled “The Family Dynamics of Tunkaseño Migration” and is devoted to a discussion of how families “negotiate separation under different patterns of family migration—internal, international and mixed—with particular attention to the kinds of disruptions the families experience” (p. 187). Although each type of migration has its particular effect on the type of migrant families, internal migration creates a low degree of disruption for Tunkaseño families relative to international migration, as proximity and ease of communication make for lower financial and emotional costs. Interestingly, the researchers conclude that mixed migration is less disruptive for families comprising migrants and parents than those comprising migrants and spouses. Mixed migration helps mediate the emotional distress caused by either of the other two patterns of migration and can serve as an intermediate option between internal and full scale international migration (p. 13). This notwithstanding, the book never loses sight of the disruptive impact of migration—whether internal, international, or mixed—on familial affective ties. Migrants, for instance, are more likely than nonmigrants to divorce or separate—15% of migrants versus 9% of nonmigrants (p. 208). Such findings can allow researchers and policymakers to better assess the types of programs or services (housing, educational, employment, counseling, etc.) that can benefit migrants.

Accessibly written in a style enhanced by the inclusion of direct personal quotations from the surveys, the research findings come alive to the reader. Mexican Migration bolsters the argument that undocumented migration is not a unilateral concern to be ameliorated simply by implementing stringent security enforcement measures. Given its complexity, migration, together with its causes and consequences, can be effectively addressed only by a multidimensional and transnational approach assumed by both the United States and Mexico. I highly recommend this book to anyone committed to understanding the intricacies of migration. A stimulating resource for researchers and policymakers, it is suitable for graduate and undergraduate courses alike.