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This article analyzes a series of extralegal procedures implemented by Guatemalans to acquire Mexican personal identification documents. The research focuses on the experiences of descendants of families who took refuge in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s and returned to Guatemala between 1994 and 1996. These young people, born in Guatemala after their parents returned to their country of origin, employed the practice of buying Mexican birth certificates which were later used to enter Mexico legally. The fieldwork was carried out in two Guatemalan villages, as well as two Mexican ones, located in Cancun and Playa del Carmen. The main argument is that for them Mexican identification documents become a singular force that confers recognition and offers them the possibility to be incorporated into governmental logic which grants material benefits. Such forms of political imagination are related to the experiences of multiple documentation accumulated by older generations during their refuge period and are now encouraged by the Mexican State's new border security strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the initial results of a study on Maya-Yucatecan migrant women who have settled permanently in Los Angeles, California. The reasons that led them to migrate are addressed as well as the way they came to the United States and joined the work force. Certain aspects that permitted their insertion into Los Angeles society are highlighted, together with identity recovery practices to show that adaptation to the host culture is slow, irregular and incomplete, but enough for them to deploy survival strategies. The paper is based on the assumption that female migration lends this phenomenon specific characteristic that warrant special attention. Accordingly, the analysis of the document is based on an interpretation of the meaning of the actions, for which the content of ten in-depth interviews conducted in Los Angeles in 2012 was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of labor income prior to migration on the income obtained by migrants in the destination economy, in the case of temporary Mexican migrants in the United States. The data used comes from the Emif Norte survey conducted between 1999 and 2009. High relative and absolute mobility is observed. Hourly income is multiplied by a factor of four in the destination economy, while the effect of a 10 % increase in labor income in Mexico results in less than a 1 % increase in labor income in the United States. The results show that labor income in Mexico has little predictive power for the job performance of Mexican migrants in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the problem of the subjectivity of agricultural workers, based on the hypothesis that they regard their living and working conditions as poor. Fieldwork was used to show their knowledge and opinions on their working and living situation in the San Joaquin Valley, California in 2007 and 2008. It was found that agricultural workers' views are based on the subjectivity and reinterpretation of their objective working and living circumstances. It was concluded that agricultural workers say that their conditions are appalling because their labor, social and human rights are not recognized or respected; the U.S. economic, social and political crisis is detrimental to them and the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (NAFTA) could only benefit them through an immigration reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]