1. Migrants vs. family-fragmenting policy: A Mexican home community proposes solutions The Corner Project of Malinalco

3. Early-stage migration Tends to be circular Jobs tend to be rural, seasonal, insecure Scattered, multiple destinations Destination support is very limited Family stays home Migrants’ goal: earn & return

4. Early-stage migration: family and community Extended families provide support –Paying migration costs –Raising children Attempt to solve problems internally Effects of migration not easily visible outside families

5. Examples of family-breaking policy: Deportation of migrant members of mixed-status families –Family members stressed during long waits in home community –U.S.-born children’s bureaucratic limbo Enforcement that pushes people into clandestinity makes for lost connections Less permeable border raises costs: children wait longer to see parents Opaque detention system –Migrant relatives difficult to locate –Communications prohibitively expensive –Health and other problems difficult to address Visa restrictions impede family visits for key family events, illness, other needs

6. Internet-facilitated communications

7. Job-creation for migrants’ widows

8. Locating missing migrant relatives

9. Family reunification

12. Programs for migrants’ children

13. Community accounting

14. Community accounting exchange

15. Solution-generating methodology: Make services available to families in home community –Build home community-destination connections via internet –Provide translation and technical support to aid cross-border linking Build links to include –local home community –Home country agencies –Destination country agencies –local destination community Facilitate crisis resolution with two-way communications Remedy communication gaps Strengthen security via community accounting methods

16. Recommendations Create apostille-support network for U.S.-born children Provide low-cost detainees’ communications with family in home communities Create network of home-region-based support modules providing –Internet-facilitated low-cost communications –Volunteer-staffed English-language communications and technical support

17. www.elrincon.org Ellen Calmus: ecalmus@elrincon.org The Corner Project of Malinalco