The context of return migration: challenges of mixed-status families in Mexico's schools

As a result of US immigration and enforcement policies, Mexico has experienced the arrival of mixed-status families coming from the USA. We examine these families’ experiences of return to central Mexico through the lens of a ‘context of return’, by focusing on how the Mexican government, particularly schools, has received returned migrants. Based on in-depth interviews with thirteen mixed-status families who returned to Mexico in 2005–2010, we show how the citizenship and legal status of the various family members determine their incorporation in Mexico. As these legal statuses are shaped by both the US context of reception and the Mexican context of return, we argue that the two contexts are intimately related and shape the contours of the families and their incorporation upon their return.