Those who Leave: Veracruz Citizens to the North of the Country and to the United States, a Recent but Constant Path

The mobilizations of Veracruzians bound for the northern border and the United States have been important for several reasons: the diversity of their geographic origin, the destinations chosen, the motivations for emigration, and the variations in the phenomena during the second decade of the 21st century. As can be seen in Table 1, the flow of Veracruzian migrants arriving in Mexico’s northern border,⁵ either to stay there or with the intention of crossing to the United States, declined sharply from 2010 to 2017, as did the national trend. Systematically, most of the mobilizations of Veracruzians have the northern border of the country as their destination (86.2% average in the period) and only 13.7% on average report the United States as their final destination. Notably, the most drastic decrease in the flow from Veracruz is observed in international migration, where the number of mobilizations in 2017 represented only 8.4% of those in 2010 (1 280 out of 15 303 mobilizations), compared to the flow aiming at the northern border, where the amount in 2017 represented 22% of that in 2010 (13 753 out of 62 492 mobilizations) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}).

The decline in Mexican migration to the United States at the national level shows that this was not a phenomenon exclusive to Veracruzians. In 2010, the NMR between Mexico and the United States was close to zero; this scenario was related to the economic crisis that began in 2007 in the

U.S. (^{Galindo, 2015}). Likewise, from 2009 to 2014 a NMR of 140 000 immigrants was estimated, evidencing a lower volume of Mexicans entering the United States when compared to those leaving said country, this time due to greater migratory control at the border between both countries (^{Gonzalez-Barrera, 2015}).

On the other hand, the decrease in mobility to northern Mexico would be related to the depletion of the comparative advantages offered by the maquiladora industries, and their inability to provide sufficient welfare to the families of migrants, mainly due to the precarious conditions of these jobs (^{Peña, 2018}). An example of this can be found in that despite the fact that Ciudad Juarez had the largest number of available positions in the maquiladora industry in 2015, there were 22 000 unfilled vacancies that same year, which encouraged local agencies to resume hiring schemes in other states of the country, Veracruz included (Peña, 2018).

However, at the national level, the participation of Veracruz in emigration to the northern border has remained stable throughout the last decade, positioning itself among the first four places in relation to the rest of the states (with the exception of years 2013 and 2017) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). This reflects the importance of Veracruzian mobility to the north of the country, as since 1980 the preponderant presence of this state has been recorded as the place of origin of recent migrants in Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez; and since 2000 in Nogales and Piedras Negras (^{Vázquez Delgado, 2015}).

On the contrary, despite the fact that Veracruz showed little prominence at the national level in mobilizations to the United States, the state has displayed significant fluctuations in the last decade. While in 2012 and 2014, Veracruz ranked 9th at the national level, in 2015 and 2016 it took the 17th and 20th positions, respectively, a pattern of decline caused by both the strengthening of security at the U.S. border and stronger domestic economic trends in Mexico (^{Mazza, 2017}).

According to ^{Massey et al. (1993}), social networks increase the willingness to leave the place of origin and to venture into the migratory experience, since the costs of mobilization and labor uncertainty are reduced, among other aspects. Next, we analyze the proportion of Veracruz migrants’ movements recorded by EMIF Norte to the northern border of the country, as well as the percentage of internal migrants born in Veracruz established in the same municipalities, in order to investigate the possible existence of social networks that favor migration.

As shown in Table 2, there is a close relationship between the percentage of Veracruz-born migrants residing in the municipalities surveyed by EMIF Norte and the mobilization figures of Veracruz citizens to these places. A clear example is Matamoros, the municipality with the highest proportion of Veracruzian mobilizations to the northern border in all the years analyzed (ranging between 57.7% and 72.1%) and, at the same time, it is the municipality where 3 out of every 10 internal migrants are born in Veracruz (32.7%) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}; ^{INEGI, 2010}, ²⁰¹⁵). The geographic proximity between Veracruz and Tamaulipas is the main factor influencing the presence of Veracruzians in that entity, coupled with the fact that Matamoros from 1995 to 2015 increased its centrality as a municipality that attracts internal migration (^{Lomelí Carrillo & Ybáñez Zepeda, 2017}). On the opposite side of the spectrum is Mexicali, a municipality that records the lowest proportion of Veracruzian migrants arriving in the northern border, and has the lowest percentage of immigrants born in the state (less than 3%) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}; ^{INEGI, 2010}, ²⁰¹⁵).

Despite the existence of important migration networks in the municipalities of Nuevo Laredo, Piedras Negras, and Ciudad Juárez, according to the presence of Veracruzian migrants (21.8%, 13.1%, and 14.4%, respectively), the flow of mobilizations to these municipalities is significantly lower (less than 9%), which is consistent with the general decrease in the flow from the south to these arrival points since 2010 (^{Vázquez Delgado, 2015}). However, the importance of these arrival municipalities in specific years is worth noting, such as the case of Nuevo Laredo, which was relevant only in 2011 (10% of mobilizations), and that of Ciudad Juarez in 2015 (12.8% of mobilizations), which may respond to the importance of these two places as traditional recipients of Veracruzians for several decades (Vázquez Delgado, 2015). Tijuana, on the other hand, despite having a lower proportion of Veracruzian migrants (around 6%), is recurrently the second border municipality with the second highest number of arrivals of Veracruzians in the north of the country (13% on average in the period); this tie can be explained due to Tijuana being a traditional crossing municipality to the United States (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}; ^{INEGI, 2010}, ²⁰¹⁵).

When it comes to the migration origin-destination relationship, Veracruz has experienced the flow of migrants to the northern border of the country and to the United States in a differential manner within its territory. Tables 3 and 4 show the participation of the 10 economic regions of the state based on the destination, as reported by migrants who arrived in the north of the country.

The Totonaca, Huasteca Baja, and Sotavento regions are the ones that concentrated the highest percentages of the flow to the northern border, with averages of 20.5%, 19.6%, and 15.9%, respectively (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). On this pattern, ^{Pérez (2018}) reported that since year 2000 the northern region of Veracruz has become the main area of origin of mobilizations to the northern border, this due to the crisis in the oil sector that affected Poza Rica and, with it, the labor force originating from neighboring indigenous municipalities.

When the evolution over time of each of the regions is studied, it can be observed that some of them significantly increased their participation in the analyzed period. Examples of the latter are the regions of Sotavento and Huasteca Baja, which increased their contribution in the flow of Veracruzians to the northern border (from 5.1% in 2010 to 26.8% in 2016 in the case of the first region, and from 16.6% to 29.9% in the second) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). The increase in the participation of the Huasteca Baja region can be explained by its constant contribution to this flow since 2000 (^{Pérez, 2018}), which could be conducive to the establishment of social and family networks and, with this, to the increase of mobilizations towards the northern border (^{Del Rey Poveda, 2007}). Likewise, ^{Del Ángel and Rebolledo (2009)} had previously documented the flow from the Sotavento region to the north of the country, caused by the crisis in the agricultural sector in this area during the 2000s, and by the precarious labor conditions offered by the industrial and service sector in the area. There are still municipalities in this region where nearly half of the population is engaged in primary activities, while most of the inhabitants work in the service sector (^{Secretariat of the Government of Veracruz [SEGOB Veracruz, after the acronym in Spanish for Secretaría de Gobierno de Veracruz], 2020}), a scenario that favors the migration patterns previously found.

Despite the diversity of motivations for migration, people heading to the northern border have moved predominantly for work reasons, although this reason has lost strength over time. From 2010 to 2017, the percentage of migrants who reported being in the north of the country to work or look for work fell from 84.4% to 55.7%, giving way to other reasons such as visiting family or friends (which increased from 12.7% to 21.5%), for tourism (from 0.8% to 6.5%), and for change of residence (from 0.7% to 4.7%) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). This indicates that, for people leaving Veracruz, despite the persistent labor opportunities offered by Mexico’s northern border, the social networks that have developed over several decades lead to family and residential mobilizations.

The flow of migrants intending to cross into the United States fluctuates more markedly according to the region of origin of the population, as shown in Table 4. In general, the regions of Las Montañas, Sotavento, and Capital record the highest average participation in the flow to the

U.S. with 22.1%, 14.3%, and 14.2%, respectively (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). These results are consistent with research that has investigated the causes of migration in these regions, describing that this flow has been caused by the abandonment of the countryside (^{Del Ángel & Rebolledo, 2009}) and by the worldwide coffee crisis that decreased the price of coffee and affected its producers in the center of the state (^{Griffith et al., 2017}; ^{Mestries, 2003}).

However, the relevance of these regions varies depending on the year analyzed. For example, emigration from the Capital region started in 2010 with a share of 18.2%, then decreased to its minimum of 1.9% in 2014, and then reached its maximum in 2017 with 20.4%. In the case of the Sotavento region, its share started at 11.6% (2010), then increased to its maximum in 2016 (24.2%), and decreased drastically one year later, to 2.4%. The Las Montañas region is the origin of emigrants that had the highest stability in the period studied, ranging from 11.8% to 31.2% (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). The explanation for the differentiated participation of these regions could be found in the decline in the international price of coffee and sugarcane that was experienced between 2011 and 2017 (although with significant fluctuations in that period) (^{International Coffee Organization, 2021}; ^{Sector Agroindustrial de la Caña, n.d.}), being that coffee is a crop of relevance for the Las Montañas and Capital regions, while the three regions concentrate an important participation in the state agricultural production of sugarcane (^{SEGOB Veracruz, 2020}).

Instability in the migration flow to the United States is also a characteristic of the regions that have little presence. The most representative case is the Los Tuxtlas region, which recorded a minimal participation from 2010 to 2013, to later occupy first place in 2014 (38.4%), and second place in 2016 (22.0%) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). The variations in this region could be related to the tourist flows each year, since ecotourism activity in the Los Tuxtlas region has become an alternative to the decision to migrate to the United States, although the communities that have benefited the most from this activity are also the ones most economically affected in the off-season (^{Piñar et al., 2011}).

The motivations for emigration to the United States are, as in the case of those heading to the northern border, essentially work-related. However, said cause has also decreased over time: from 2010 to 2017 those who reported leaving to look for work went from 68.1% to 23.6%; while those who indicated leaving to go to work decreased from 21.9% to 10.0% (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). The decrease in work-related reasons has been substituted by recreational activities such as leisure reasons, which increased from 0.05% to 38.9% (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}). This illustrates that, although the flow to the United States is minor among Veracruzians, most of them continue to cross the border in search for new job opportunities, although interest in new life experiences has indeed increased.

Those who Arrive: Homecoming and New Foreign Neighbors

Return migration has emerged in the state derived from the important role of Veracruz in emigration to the United States, as have transnational links between those who stay and those who leave. According to ^{Ramos et al. (2017}), in Veracruz the number of return migrants increased from 23^rd place between 1985 and 1990 to the 6^th position between 2010 and 2015 at the national level. Additionally, with two of the most important seaports in Mexico (Coatzacoalcos and Veracruz), and being a migratory route for foreigners bound for the United States, the entity has been a recipient of foreigners coming mainly from Europe, Asia and the Caribbean (^{Medina, 2018}; ^{Salazar, 2011}). Both migratory phenomena are addressed in this section, accounting for the regionalization and participation of Veracruzian municipalities.

Regarding return migration, based on the 2010 and 2020 Population and Housing Census (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰), two important results stand out: the first is that the total figure of Veracruz returnees decreased from 2010 to 2020, from 42 445 to 10 235 people, respectively. This pattern is concordant with what was reported at the national level, as the number of returnees decreased from 824 006 to 442 281 from 2010 to 2015 (^{Ramos et al., 2017}) reaching 178 072 in 2020 (^{INEGI, 2020}). The second is that it shows that the three regions that recorded the highest average participation in the flow of emigrants to the United States (Las Montañas, Capital, and Sotavento) (^{El Colef et al., 2021a}), were the same ones leading in terms of the arrival of return migrants in 2010 with 23.9%, 16.2%, and 11.3%, respectively (Table 5) (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰). A decade later, the regions of Las Montañas and Capital stayed first and second place, but Sotavento was displaced by Nautla. The latter region has presented important migration trends that could explain its growing participation in 2020, since of the 11 municipalities that comprise it, 6 presented medium and high MII in 2010 (^{SEGOB Veracruz, 2020}).

When addressing the phenomenon of return migration, it is important to keep in mind that emigrants to the United States do not necessarily return to their municipality or region of origin, as some returnees return to municipal capitals, state capitals, or urban localities (^{Masferrer & Roberts, 2012}). This background is relevant to explain the results of Maps 1a and 1b, which show that the return of Veracruz migrants at the municipal level is not exactly a reflection of the geography of international emigration to the United States, and that, rather, a heterogeneous pattern is observed in both years of analysis.

In 2010, in 9 of the 10 regions of Veracruz there was at least one municipality with more than 500 return migrants, which happen to be places belonging to one of the nine metropolitan areas of the state (Córdoba in Las Montañas, Veracruz in Sotavento, Xalapa in Capital, Pánuco in Huasteca Alta, Papantla in the Totonaca zone, and Coatzacoalcos in the Olmeca area) (^{CONAPO et al., 2018}), or with medium and high MII (Atzalan in Nautla, Actopan, and Altotonga in Capital, Cuitláhuac in Las Montañas, and Tierra Blanca and Playa Vicente in Papaloapan) (^{CONAPO, 2012}). From the above criteria, Martínez de la Torre and Misantla in Nautla, and San Andrés and Santiago Tuxtla in the territory of Los Tuxtlas are excluded, although the demographic and economic relevance of these municipalities in each of their regions has been documented (^{SEGOB Veracruz, 2020}).

Maps 1a and 1b. Veracruzian Return Migrants, by Municipality and Region in Veracruz (2010 and 2020)

Source: Population and Housing Census, microdata (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).

This heterogeneity continued in 2020, although the concentration by municipality changed with respect to that of 10 years ago. Only the capital of the state (Xalapa) recorded more than 500 return migrants, while Papantla, Martínez de la Torre, Atzalan, Veracruz, Playa Vicente, Tierra Blanca, and San Andrés Tuxtla concentrated between 200 and 500 return migrants (^{INEGI, 2020}). Several authors have evidenced the economic and demographic relevance of Xalapa as a point of attraction for internal migrants in the state, due to the concentration of educational and governmental services in this municipality, which has presented medium and high indicators of migratory attraction so far in the 20th century (^{Lima & Vázquez, 2018}; ^{Libreros et al., 2020}).

The above shows that, despite the fact that the Sotavento, Las Montañas, and Capital regions recorded the highest average participation in the flow to the United States, geographic heterogeneity is observed in terms of return in both 2010 and 2020. The findings for the Veracruz case match the dispersed geographic distribution at the municipal level found by ^{Terán (2019)}. Additionally, it can be said that returned Veracruz migrants settled in places of regional relevance or important economic activity within the regions, being more evident in 2020, where the main return destination was the state capital.

The second group of those arriving in Veracruz is composed of international immigrants who settle in the territory. Although thousands of people from different parts of the world have settled in the state throughout the history of Veracruz, in the second decade of the 21st century the profile of international immigration reflected the combination of new and historical migration flows. As can be seen in Table 6, although the presence of foreigners has remained virtually unchanged between 2010 and 2020, the share of each region of the world has varied between the two years.

The majority of international immigrants are U.S.-born individuals, representing 71.7% and 65.6% in 2010 and 2020, respectively (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).

Overall, people from Central America, South America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Asia increased their presence in Veracruz, although the last three represent the lowest percentage (less than 10%). Central American immigrants are the group with the highest growth in the state (from 4.8% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2020), while immigrants of European origin, which include 20 countries (among which Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and France stand out), also decreased considerably in the years studied (from 11.2% to 5.9%) (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).

The geographic distribution of international immigrants in Veracruz shows that there are regions with greater diversity of foreigners than others, and a clear majority settlement in the center and south of the state (Maps 2a and 2b). In 2010, the Las Montañas region was the territory with the greatest plurality of foreigners: it recorded the largest community of people from the United States in the Veracruz (3 391), as well as the only presence of people from Africa (13). On the other hand, the Capital and Sotavento regions had the largest population from Europe, in addition to the largest settlement of people from the Caribbean in both regions (^{INEGI, 2010}).

Although the Olmeca region also concentrated a considerable number of Europeans, people of Central American origin stood out the most (383), with the municipalities of Coatzacoalcos and Cosoleacaque having the highest concentration of them (which is related to the immobilization of the migrations in transit through the state, and the increase in refugee applications in that region). Finally, the highest proportion of foreigners of South American origin was found in the Totonaca region (873) (^{INEGI, 2010}).

Maps 2a and 2b. International Immigrants in Veracruz, by Region or Country of Origin and Region of Residence (2010 and 2020)

Source: Population and Housing Census, microdata (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).

In 2020, settlement in the territory of Veracruz underwent considerable changes, as evidenced in Map 2b. The first of these is the increase in Central Americans in the state, positioning them as the second most prevalent immigrant group in 6 of the 10 regions (only behind people from the United States). Thus, from 2010 to 2020, not only did the proportion of Central American

immigrants increase in absolute terms, but also their territorial distribution throughout the state diversified (^{INEGI, 2020}).

Two other important changes in the pattern of international immigrants in 2020 were the diversification of African immigrants in other parts of the entity, and the noticeable increase of people from Asia. With respect to the former and as mentioned earlier, in 2010 people of African origin were only recorded in the Las Montañas region, but 10 years later this area was abandoned and they emerged in other regions such as Capital, Papaloapan, and Sotavento, this matching with ^{Coulange and Castillo (2020}), who categorized the flow of Africans among the most recent in the state. Likewise, Asian immigrants increased their presence in general, and in five regions in particular, Capital, Olmeca, and Sotavento standing out (^{INEGI, 2020}).

Due to relevance of migration in the years prior to 2020, Table 7 shows that although the largest arrival of people originating from the United States continues standing out, it decreased significantly. Likewise, the arrival of Spaniards, French, Cubans, and Germans to the state of Veracruz keeps constant, showing significant differences between 2010 and 2020 (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).

As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, an important flow of foreigners into the country in the decade under analysis are people from Venezuela, as a result of the political and economic crisis that caused an exodus of Venezuelans to various Latin American countries, including Mexico (^{Franco, 2020}). In Veracruz, 632 Venezuelans arrived in 2010 and 266 in 2020, a possible reflection of the increase in refugee applications in the country and in the state. Similarly, immigrants from northern Central America increased their share of the immigrant stock in 2020, a sign of the dynamics of population mobilizations in the Central America-Mexico-United States migration system (^{INEGI, 2010}, (²⁰²⁰).