Child migrants returning to Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico

Objective: to characterize familiy profiles from those who return to Mexico after being in the United states and to learn about the difficulties faced by the returning migrant children, with specific attention to their adaptation within the Mexican school system as well as the actions undertaken by parents and teachers to help them in the process. Methodology: a random representative survey was carried out in elementary schools in Culiacán, Sinaloa between March 23rd and December 7th of 2015. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with parents who returned and the teachers of children who had returned. These interviews were held between March 13th and July 29th of 2016. Results: it was shown that the majority of families are mixed and have a greater number of children who are citizens of the United States. The study also revealed that from a total of 534 children who had been returned to primary schools, 87.4% were born in the United States. Those students suffer from a problem of invisibility in the educational system and, at the same time, face bulling because of their different appearance. Additionally, children and their parents struggle with depression in the adaptation process. Conclusions: return migration to Mexico has been a constant. For children, their families, and the society to which they return, the challenge in return migration is evident. It also creates challenges in a child’s school life, especially due to the fact that they have little or no command of Spanish.