Caught in the Current

Mexico's Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940–1980

Irvin Ibargüen

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781469689586, 9781469689579
• eBook ISBN: 9781469684659
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Mexican History
• Index: History

Migration between the United States and Mexico is often compared to the river that runs along the border: a “flow” of immigrants, a “flood” of documented and undocumented workers, a “dam” that has broken. Scholars, journalists, and novelists often tell this story from a south-to-north perspective, emphasizing Mexican migration to the United States, and the American response to the influx of people crossing its borders.

In Caught in the Current, Irvin Ibargüen offers a Mexico-centered history of migration in the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on Mexican periodicals and archival sources, he explores how the Mexican state sought to manage US-bound migration. Ibargüen examines Mexico’s efforts to blunt migration’s impact on its economy, social order, and reputation, at times even aiming to restrict the flow of migrants. As a transnational history, the book highlights how Mexico’s policies to moderate out-migration were contested by both the United States and migrants themselves, dooming them to fail. Ultimately, Caught in the Current reveals how both countries manipulated the border to impose control over a phenomenon that quickly escaped legal and political boundaries.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Abbreviations
• Naming Conventions
• INTRODUCTION ⋅ A Fluid Situation ⋅ Outlining Mexico’s Management of Out-Migration
• 1 ⋅ Proper Channels ⋅ The Promises and Perils of a Planned Migration, 1942–1953
• 2 ⋅ Against the Current ⋅ Mexico Meets Public Pressure to Contain Out-Migration, 1953–1954
• 3 ⋅ An Uncontainable Flow ⋅ The Escalation and Demise of Mexico’s Migrant Demobilization Campaign, 1954
• 4 ⋅ Turning the Tide ⋅ Part One ⋅ Mexico Engineers the Internal Exploitation of Migrant Labor, 1955–1958
• 5 ⋅ Turning the Tide ⋅ Part Two ⋅ Mexico Desists from Exploiting Migrant Labor Internally, 1958–1963
• 6 ⋅ A Flailing State ⋅ Part One ⋅ Mexico Searches for Migratory Solutions after the Bracero Program, 1968–1975
• 7 ⋅ A Flailing State ⋅ Part Two ⋅ Mexico’s Failed Search for a Migratory Solution, 1975–1980
• CONCLUSION ⋅ Caught in the Current ⋅ Mexico Surrenders to Out-Migration, 1980–Present
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index