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Prior research reports mixed results regarding the economic impacts of crime. This study employs data from all regions of Mexico, including border regions in both the north and the south, to examine the effects of homicides on retail activity across Mexico during a period of escalating violence. The results indicate that one additional homicide within a municipality eliminates one retail establishment and one paid job in the retail sector. Furthermore, the negative consequences of violent crime for retailers are augmented by proximity to an international border. This is consistent with previous research findings that cross-border shopping is a key feature of commerce along the international boundaries of Mexico. It suggests that crime waves may disproportionately impact border city retail activity by partially diverting customer traffic to stores located in neighboring countries. This result is also consistent with the finding of recent research that violent conflict in northern Mexico resulted in increased retail activity in some United States border cities.
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Evaluating the Use of Humanitarian Parole as a Border Management Strategy in the United States
The number of arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border has increased dramatically over the past five years. To accommodate this increased flow, the Biden administration introduced a new program that allows migrants from ‘non-deportable’ countries - Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) - the opportunity to apply for parole while still in their home countries and arrive for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) appointments at a given port of entry, alleviating the numbers of unsolicited arrivals along the border. In this article, we analyze CBP data to assess the program's effectiveness in reducing irregular migration along the southern U.S. border. Our results show that the CHNV parole program has demonstrated varying levels of success in reducing border encounters, with pronounced, long-term effects for Cuban and Nicaraguan nationals and only temporary for Venezuelan and Haitian individuals. We explore the potential causes for these different outcomes and recommend program adjustments to facilitate the growing number of individuals pursuing lawful entry into the United States.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2242268
- PAR ID:
- 10631677
- Publisher / Repository:
- Transnational Press London
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Migration and Diversity
- Volume:
- 3
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2753-6904
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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