top of page
Search

The New Binational Generation No Longer Sees Migration Only as a Rupture, but as an Identity

  • Writer: Editorial
    Editorial
  • 3 days ago
  • 5 min read
The binational generation that no longer experiences migration solely as a rupture, but as an identity — *interAlcaldes* Magazine

For decades, Mexico described migration through the language of departure: the person who leaves, the family that waits, the remittance that keeps consumption afloat, and the community that learns to live with an empty chair. That story remains real; deportations, family separation, precarious work, and immigration vulnerability prove that rupture has not disappeared. But it no longer explains the whole present. A generation has grown up across languages, trips, documents, video calls, schools in two countries, and family networks that do not obey a single geography. For them, the border has not vanished; it has stopped being the sole center of the experience.


A definition that changes the conversation

In this article, the binational generation means young people and families whose lives, education, emotional ties, or economic activity are organized between Mexico and the United States, without birthplace exhausting that experience. It includes people born in Mexico with family trajectories in the United States, U.S.-born descendants of migrants, and U.S.-born people living in Mexico. It is not a sentimental label; it is a social condition with economic, educational, cultural, and territorial consequences.


You can listen to this article here:


The border no longer explains everything

When migration is understood only as expulsion, communities of origin mainly see resources arriving from elsewhere. When a binational identity is recognized, different assets become visible: people who can translate cultural codes, identify markets, activate professional networks, circulate knowledge, and connect places that once related to one another mostly through money. The diaspora is no longer only a consequence of inequality; it can also be human infrastructure between two economies.


The scale makes this shift impossible to ignore. In 2024, roughly 40 million people of Mexican origin lived in the United States, representing 57% of the country’s Hispanic population, according to Pew Research Center. Even so, it is too large to be treated as an external audience, an isolated minority, or a pool of remittance senders. It has weight in labor markets, consumption, education, culture, and public debate in both countries.


The conventional economic reading has not disappeared. Mexico received $61.791 billion in remittances in 2025, according to Banco de México. That figure confirms the depth of family ties, but also the limits of measuring the binational relationship only in transfers. Money supports households; it does not replace the work of turning bicultural experience, familiarity with two systems, and networks of trust into education, entrepreneurship, commerce, and public participation.


“Remittances support households; binational networks can transform territories."

A reality that already lives inside municipalities

The phenomenon is also inside Mexico. The 2020 Population and Housing Census recorded 797,266 U.S.-born people living in the country. That figure does not identify every person’s ancestry, nor does it justify assuming that all belong to returning Mexican families. It does show that binational life is already present in classrooms, neighborhoods, workplaces, and everyday paperwork. For many municipalities, this is not a conversation about distant compatriots. It is a local reality that requires better responses in education, health, documentation, integration, and mobility.


That is why being Mexican, for part of this generation, does not depend exclusively on having been born in Mexico or speaking flawless Spanish. It depends on affections, references, responsibilities, and decisions that cross both countries. Identity does not erase asymmetries, discrimination, or immigration vulnerability; it changes the starting point. Not every tie to Mexico is organized around loss.


interAlcaldes Magazine: The binational generation that no longer experiences migration solely as a rupture, but as an identity.

Jalisco-Chicago: a connection that must become a platform

The relationship between Jalisco and Chicago shows how a migration network can become a territorial strategy. In its internationalization policy, the Government of Jalisco estimated in 2022 that roughly 400,000 people from Jalisco lived in the U.S. Midwest and set investment, foreign trade, education, training, and innovation agendas for its Chicago office.


The challenge is not to reduce this presence to consular assistance or community events. It can link universities, professional mentoring, small exporting businesses, local suppliers, and roots tourism. The opportunity does not lie in assuming that every migrant family will become an investor. It lies in designing clear channels so that people who want to collaborate can find information, counterparts, and reliable projects. That is where nostalgia starts becoming territorial capacity.


“A binational generation does not ask to be treated as absence; it demands to be recognized as territorial capacity.”

 

You can see this article here:


From nostalgia to territorial capacity

The shift is also visible on the U.S. side. Migration Policy Institute estimates that the working-age adult second generation will grow 64% between 2020 and 2040, from 20.4 million to 33.4 million people. The projection is not limited to people of Mexican origin, but it measures a structural trend: U.S.-born children of immigrant families will play a growing role in classrooms, universities, and the labor market. The data points to clear demographic and productive pressure.


interMayors Magazine infographic The New Binational Generation No Longer Sees Migration Only as a Rupture, but as an Identity
You can download this infographic for free.

The municipal task is to institutionalize this relationship. An annual festival or a speech to migrant clubs is not enough. Cities need service desks that resolve school and documentation processes; programs that connect diaspora professionals with local projects; verifiable information for people who want to invest, start a business, or collaborate from abroad; and cultural policies that recognize complex forms of belonging without reducing them to folklore. A city’s ability to receive, recognize, and connect binational populations will signal whether it is ready to compete in a networked economy.


Global Mexico is not built only through consulates, treaties, or major corporations. It is also built in households where a grandmother lives in Michoacán, a daughter studies in Phoenix, and a cousin opens a business in Chicago; in schools receiving students whose educational paths have been altered by mobility; and in municipalities that understand their population does not end at an administrative boundary. The binational generation is not asking for a sentimental narrative. It is forcing Mexico and the United States to design institutions equal to a shared reality. Territories that see their diaspora only as a source of remittances will give up a decisive reserve of connection, creativity, and future capacity.


Banner subscribe to interAlcaldes magazine

Written by: Editorial



Sources consulted

Verified sources linked for editorial reference.




Comments

bottom of page