Special Report: America first: the challenge for Mexico (ISSN 17414474)

Mexicans have been migrating north to the United States for more than half a century. US labour shortages during the Second World War led to the launch of the Bracero programme in 1942 allowing Mexican farm labourers to work in the US. Under this and other legislation Mexicans were able to work and live in the US for extended periods, employed not only in agriculture but also in manufacturing and the services sector. They benefitted from consistently strong labour demand in a growing US economy. Given the big differential in wage rates, over a number of decades many hundreds of thousands of Mexicans moved to the US, both legally and illegally. A relatively porous border helped illegal migration. The number of Mexicans arriving in the US every year remained high for around four decades, but has recently stabilised.