Web Site Will Track Migration Patterns
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The government has launched a new web site tracking the hometowns of millions of Mexicans residing in the United States, the Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE) said Saturday.
The site, which features maps of both countries, shows how Mexican migrants tend to settle in U.S. cities where residents from their home state or town have gone before them, the SRE said in a news release.
The SRE said the information, gathered by Mexican consulates in the United States, will help people to better understand Mexican migration.
According to the site, Omaha, Nebraska, has become the key destination for Mexicans hailing from the steamy southern state of Campeche, while Atlanta has drawn residents from the cactus-studded central state of Hidalgo.
San Francisco is home primarily to migrants from the Yucatan, while residents from the swampy Gulf Coast state of Tabasco tend to move to Raleigh, North Carolina, according to the site.
Migrants usually follow relatives and friends, who often find them jobs even before they sneak across the U.S. border.
In many U.S. cities, Mexican migrant communities have formed clubs to collect money to send back to their hometowns to fund festivals, build schools or open medical clinics.
Some migrants in the United States also have formed soccer teams representing their Mexican hometowns that play against other migrants from villages from their same Mexican state.
On the Net:
Institute for Mexicans Abroad http://www.ime.gob.mx/estados.htm
(Posted on January 2, 2007)