ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which patterns of migration vary by legal status and community of origin over time, and emphasizes how gender differentiates the processes of legal and undocumented migration. The idea of going north for opportunity has resulted in the arrival of many Mexicans without legal papers authorizing them to work. The chapter reviews the leading studies of Mexican emigration communities to determine what factors initiated and sustained migration to the United States (US). First, few Mexicans migrated from these communities before the 1950s and, when they did migrate, they were as likely to move within Mexico as to migrate illegally to the US. Second, Mexican migration was almost stopped in the 1930s as a result of the Depression and repatriations. Essential in this approach must be a binational propaganda campaign that is aimed at changing beliefs about migrating to the United States from Mexican communities.
