Health Care and Education Access of Transnational Children in Mexico

Abstract

Between 2001 and 2018, more than 5.5 million Mexican migrants were removed from the United States or returned to Mexico with their families as immigration enforcement escalated. Learning how this transition affected their children—also referred to as “the invisibles”—is a policy-relevant topic for both the United States and Mexico. Using representative data on 7.6 million Mexican- and U.S.-born children from the 2015 Mexican Intercensal Survey, we provide evidence of the gaps in access to education and health care between these two groups and of the factors potentially responsible for the existing barriers. Relative to children born in Mexico, U.S.-born children are at a considerable disadvantage in terms of health care access, but less so in terms of education. Lack of a Mexican-issued birth certificate is among the persistent factors responsible for the gaps in services. Policies aimed at changing the approach to immigration enforcement in the United States, lessening paperwork requirements in Mexico, and easing access to documentation in both countries could improve transnational children's access to basic services, as well as their present and long-term well-being.

U.S. Citizen Children De Facto Deported to Mexico

“…As a result of these and other challenges, U.S.‐born children in Mexico experience delays in enrollment and are more likely to exit school early than nonmigrant children in Mexico and the United States (Glick and Yabiku 2016; Rendall and Torr 2008; Vargas Valle and Camacho Rojas 2015; Zúñiga and Giorguli Saucedo 2020). Studies have recently documented that U.S.‐born children in Mexico are also less likely to be enrolled in health insurance than Mexican‐born children (Amuedo‐Dorantes and Juarez 2022; Borja et al. 2021; Wassink 2020).…”

“…From 2000 to 2015, the population of U.S.‐born children living in Mexico doubled to more than half a million, population growth driven by the migration of hundreds of thousands of Mexican adults from the United States to Mexico with their children (Amuedo‐Dorantes and Juarez 2022; Giorguli Saucedo, García‐Guerrero, and Masferrer 2016; Masferrer, Hamilton, and Denier 2019). Zúñiga and Giorguli Saucedo (2020) call U.S.‐born children in Mexico the 0.5 generation : they have U.S. citizenship by birth but will grow up in their parents’ country of origin.…”