Monitoring Net Migration Zero. Statistical Observatory of Mexican Migration Flows in the U.S-Mexico Border

As a consequence of the economic recession in the United States, and many other factors, migration between Mexico and the United States reached a historic point of net migration zero around 2010. Is this a new era or just a pause? The answer to this question is a major challenge for scholars and policy makers. The Border Survey of Mexican Migration (EMIF) offers a unique data set to follow up on labor migration flows from and to the United States. The main objective of this paper is to present EMIF, a unique methodology of labor migration flows. Operating since 1993, EMIF is the oldest continuous research program tracking original data on the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, whether legally or illegally. The objective of the Border Survey of Mexican Migration is to provide unbiased estimates of the size, composition, and characteristics of Mexican labor flows taking place across the U.S.-Mexico border. The cities and towns along the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border constitute the main migration corridor between the two countries. With more than 90 percent of U.S.-Mexico migration flows passing through the border region, it serves as an ideal observatory.