Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

While economic migration from Mexico to the United States has a long history, the recent expansion of the remittance economy driven by migration is causing rapid transformation of both the built environment and society in rural Mexico. Many Hometown Associations (HTAs)—or clubs that represent a particular hometown in Mexico—collectively finance public buildings in small Mexican villages. Recognizing this major source of funding for development, the Mexican federal government created the Tres Por Uno (3x1) program in 2001. In this program, migrant remittances sent through clubs in the U.S. are multiplied by municipal, state, and federal Mexican funds for regional development. 3x1 and HTAs are strategically linked, as 3x1 both motivates migrant organization in the U.S. and incites the Mexican government to act on behalf of rural Mexico. On the surface, this relationship appears to be beneficial to both parties, as migrants receive support for building projects and the Mexican state can achieve development targets with minimal investment. However, I argue that this nascent model of development—what I term the Remittance Development Model (RDM)—challenges the role of the state in improving municipal spaces, and institutionalizes migrant ambivalence associated with remitting as a way of life. The RDM, investigated through ethnographic research, policy data, and site analysis, also produces complex, ambiguous results for migrants, their families and their home communities, who must balance new kinds of freedom and agency with familial fragmentation and changing social norms.