Migration between the United States and Mexico is mainly studied as a unidirectional flow. However, the other side of the US-Mexico migration story is increasingly relevant. This study focuses on migration of native-born Americans to Mexico in the context of neoliberal globalization from 1990 to 2010. Following Mullan and Ayala (2015), this investigation of educational selectivity of American emigrants adopts the dual-flow model, hypothesizing an expansion flow during the rise of neoliberal globalization in North America and an austerity flow when economic austerity was the policy in the United States. Using data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 US and Mexican censuses, this study investigates the changes in migration selectivity. Results from binary logistic regression show that during the rise of neoliberal globalization migrants were negatively and positively selected for migration by education. Additionally, they show that during the fall of neoliberal globalization migrants were only negatively selected for migration by education. The results support the hypothesis of a duality of migration flows. This is evidence of changes in the North American migration system. Furthermore, these findings challenge the view of Mexico as solely a migrant sending state and are indicative of strides in the development process in Mexico. Migration scholars and policymakers must pay attention to this migration flow to address the social, cultural, and economic implications of increasing American emigration to Mexico.
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