U.S. Citizen Children De Facto Deported to Mexico

Between 2000 and 2015, the U.S. deported unprecedented numbers of Mexican immigrants. During the same period, the population of U.S.‐born children living in Mexico doubled in size. This study estimates the number of U.S.‐born children who emigrated to Mexico from the United States in order to accompany a deported parent: de facto deported children. The data come from the Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID), a national probability sample of households in Mexico collected in 2014 and 2018. About one in six U.S.‐born children living in Mexico in 2014/2018, amounting to an estimated 80,000–100,000 U.S.‐born children, were there because the U.S. government deported one or both of their parents. De facto deported U.S.‐born children are socioeconomically disadvantaged in Mexico compared to U.S.‐born children whose parents migrate to Mexico for other reasons. Women are overrepresented among deported people who bring their U.S.‐born children to Mexico, and when deported mothers bring their children, they are far less likely to do so with a partner than are deported fathers. U.S. policy should consider the interests of U.S. citizen children forced to live abroad when redesigning immigration and child welfare policies.