Reciprocal Movements of Mexicans in the United States.

This paper tests and expands the counter-current migration theory with the secondary migration experience of Mexicans in the US. The analyses reveal strong evidence of the existence of such counter current migration to compliment the general main flow of internal migrants. Furthermore, the findings also indicate important and significant differences between participants of the opposing flows of migration. Based on this observation, I contend that the nonrandom nature of counter-current migration for the Mexicans points to an extension to the anticipation and explanation of the classical migration literature the counter-current movement may not necessarily occur as a mere response to the main-flow of migration as suggested by the Laws of Migration. Instead, the existence of the population flows in opposing directions could be interpreted as different strategies of assimilation and adaptation by the members of immigrant groups with varied resource and capital. The flows and counter-flows demonstrate the diverse levels of assimilation progress and corresponding diverse paths to social and economic progress within the immirgant group. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]