Vamos para buscar la vida: A comparison of patterns of outmigration from a rancho in Jalisco and inmigration to a Mexicali squatter settlement

Patterns of outmigration from a rancho in Jalisco are compared to patterns of inmigration to a Mexicali squatter settlement, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative analysis is based on interviews with 98% of household heads on the rancho and 95% in the colonia.;There are four conclusions concerning patterns of outmigration from the rancho. First, the rancho is linked to the U.S. economy primarily, though not exclusively, though labor migration. Second, each of the rancho's three classes--commodity producing farmers, subsistence farmers, and landless or near landless peasants--has a qualitatively different labor linkage with the U.S. economy. Third, social networks are more important than control over economic resources in conditioning who migrates to the United States. Fourth, networks are grounded in a multiplicity of locations rather than being "bipolar" or "binodal.".;There are five conclusions regarding patterns of migration among squatter settlement residents. First, most colonia residents knew someone in Mexicali before arriving. Second, many of the original settlers were kin and friends. Third, over time residents "pulled in" other relatives to the colonia. Fourth, most colonia residents who have worked in the United States have kin there. Fifth, the migration histories of those who have lived previously in multiple locations describe a "foraging"--rather than a stage-migration or duolocal chain-migration--pattern.;There are two findings concerning differences between rancho and colonia residents. First, although fathers of residents of both communities do not differ significantly as regards access to agricultural land, current residents of the rancho are more likely to own or control agricultural lands than colonia residents ever were. Second, the greater incidence of transnational migration among rancho residents is explained primarily by the former's greater network resources in the United States.;Possibilities for ameliorating the situation of the poorest residents of both communities, several based on their suggestions, are offered.