A million Mexicans heading home this summer

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Almost a million Mexicans living in the U.S. are going home this summer … at least for a few days.

From Tijuana to Nuevo Laredo to Juarez, pickups crammed with luggage and small appliances and SUVs packed with people are proceeding south to the cities and villages of their birth – where their parents and other relatives still reside.

“We’re coming from Colorado,” Jose Lucas Regiola said while waiting to get a permit for his U.S.-registered car at a Mexican highway checkpoint south of Juarez. “We’re only staying for a week because of work. We came to spend Christmas and New Year’s Day over here, and now the summer.”

The seasonal flood of expatriates like Regiola, who traces family roots to a town called Meoqui 300 miles south of El Paso, has prompted the Mexican government to activate the nationwide Heroes Paisanos program.

It consists of fully staffing checkpoints with customs and immigration officers and surging police officers to highways with strict instructions to assist the travelers. A toll-free telephone number has been set up so travelers can file complaints if they feel mistreated or were victims of extortion.

The Heroes Paisanos (Countrymen Heroes) “is a program of vital importance to us,” Mexican National Immigration Institute Regional Director Victor Manuel Martinez said at a news conference in Nogales last week. The program is in place through Aug. 19.

“Our countrymen come to visit their families, their roots, the place where they were born and where they grew up. They may now be living in (the United States), but their remittances are vital to the economy of Mexico. Their contributions strengthen our economy,” Martinez told reporters.

INM says 1.9 million Mexicans visited from the United States between March and August last year. Another million were expected for the year-end holidays.

An estimated 37.2 million Hispanics of Mexican ancestry lived in the U.S. as of 2021, according to the Pew Research Center . Of the 10.7 million who were born in Mexico, 62% crossed 20 years ago or longer, and 35% have become naturalized American citizens, the Pew reported.

It is the Mexico-born group that regularly sends money to family members in Mexico and visits the homeland often. Their remittances and those of others elsewhere in the world totaled $63.3 billion in 2023 , according to BBVA bank.

Almost 1 in 4 live in Los Angeles County, California; Harris County, Texas; Dallas County, Texas, or Cook County, Illinois, the Migration Policy Institute reported .

“We want you to know you are welcome,” INM Commissioner Francisco Garduño said last week in Zacatecas. “We don’t want you to forget your homeland. We want you to visit us because we love you. This is your ‘big’ house. You don’t know how happy your loved ones are when you come. We, as the government, will make sure you get home safe and happy.”

Safety on Mexican roads has become a concern for the expatriates in recent years. Some have told Border Report they wait to gather in car caravans at the border before proceeding south.

But some say they feel safe because they know the territory, travel in daylight and maintain constant telephone contact with the relatives they’re visiting.

“We already spent a night here and all was good. They treated us well,” said a traveler from Utah who only identified himself as Rocky. “I have to go back to work but me, my niece, my brother and my in-laws come once in a while. Last year we were here in October and spent only a week before going back. Let’s see how it goes from here to (the destination).”

The Mexican government has put together a visitor’s guide available for download and an app for iPhones and Android phones. Visitors wanting to voice complaints can call 01-800-201-8542 if still in Mexico, or 1-877-210-9469 if back in the United States.

ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.

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