Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Irvin Ibargüen, "Caught in the Current: Mexico's Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940-1980"

Date: December 21, 2025

Guest: Irvin Ibargüen, Assistant Professor of History, NYU

Host: Rachel Newman

Overview of the Episode

This episode features a discussion between Rachel Newman and historian Irvin Ibargüen about his book, Caught in the Current: Mexico's Struggle to Regulate Emigration, 1940-1980 (UNC Press, 2025). The conversation centers on Ibargüen's challenge to prevailing narratives about Mexico's relationship with emigration, its policies toward migrants, and the complex interplay of sovereignty, migrant agency, and US-Mexico relations across four decades.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Revisiting Historical Narratives on Migration

Challenging "Safety Valve" and "Devil's Bargain" Theories

• Ibargüen refutes the popular and academic belief that "sending states" like Mexico used migration primarily as a way to relieve domestic pressures, or as part of a cynical "devil's bargain" (02:42).
• He argues Mexico pursued a "middle of the road" approach, sometimes facilitating and sometimes restraining migration, due to both the benefits (remittances, stability) and risks (loss of citizens, sovereignty).
• Mexico never fully embraced or opposed out-migration; rather, it attempted to balance competing interests, resulting in a dynamic, ambiguous stance.

Quote:

"Mexico...has a much more kind of middle, middle, middle of the road kind of perspective of migration... it's a devil’s bargain."
– Irvin Ibargüen (03:20)

2. Situating the Book in Scholarly Fields

Interdisciplinary Reach and US–Mexico Power Relations

• The book crosses boundaries of international migration studies, Latin American studies, and the histories of migrant labor and US—and Mexican—statecraft.
• Ibargüen critiques the US-centric lens:

  "All the emphasis is always on…how does migration affect us, the American economy, the American individual...what I try to do in this book is try to understand the Mexican perspective." (06:07)

• He highlights how US interventions in the 1950s, particularly 1954, undermined alternative Mexican political visions, giving specificity to the impact of "US empire" (08:10).
• The book foregrounds migrant agency, showing migrants as key actors with leverage in negotiating Mexican policy, not passive recipients of state decisions.

3. The Bracero Program and "Autonomous Flexibility"

1940s–1954: Hopes, Hurdles, and Disillusionment

• The Bracero program (1942–1964): a landmark binational guest worker initiative ensuring some rights/protections for migrants, with Mexican involvement in oversight (13:14).
• In practice:
  • Migrants often hesitant to report abuses (fear of job loss).
  • Mexican blacklisting of abusive US employers rarely effective due to cumbersome binational procedures.
• By 1954, Mexico was disillusioned, seeking greater control—including unilateral blacklisting powers—but found US resistance.

Quote:

"Mexico perceives itself as being capable of...maintaining a high degree of control over the migration, even as...over the years, it gradually becomes clear... the migration is slipping away from its control."
– Irvin Ibargüen (17:32)

4. 1954: A Watershed Year of Crisis and Backlash

Failed State Ambitions vs. Migrant Persistence

• In 1954, Mexico refused to renew the Bracero program, closed border points, and militarized crossings, especially at Mexicali, aiming to "corral" migration internally (19:24).
• Policy goals: redirect labor to northern Mexican growers, stabilize society, launch state agrarian colonies.
• Reality: US responded with an "open border" (unilateral hiring), desperate to save the lettuce crop. Migrants, undeterred by Mexican state efforts, forced confrontations at the border (23:00).
• Mexican government realized it could not stop workers—practical surrender led to policy shift and renewal talks with US.

Quote:

"[Mexico] makes kind of a strong stand...sending military personnel to police the area, make sure no migrants go abroad. ... But the embarrassment of fighting their own citizens was worse than having them go to the US."
– Irvin Ibargüen (25:52)

5. The Internal Bracero Program: Compromises and Corruption

1955–1963: Channeling Labor Within the Nation

• Mexico launched a domestic labor program: migrants worked northern cotton fields in exchange for fast-tracked US Bracero contracts (28:31).
• For northern growers: a success, boosting cotton production.
• For migrants: a source of resentment and activism—citing corruption, broken promises, and bribery. Migrants publicly criticized the program, exposing names in the press and driving criminal investigations.

Quote:

"For the migrant workers, the internal Bracero program was, in their own words, a kind of racket... There seemed to be no honesty in the program."
– Irvin Ibargüen (31:48)

6. Post-Bracero Era (1960s–1970s): "Flailing" Responses

From Formal Programs to Undocumented Exodus

• Bracero program ends (1965); migration persists and grows, now primarily undocumented, with more severe abuses and dangers (36:44).
• Mexico viewed emigration as a reflection of failed domestic policy and periodically attempted new interventions—agrarian colonization, tariff negotiations with the US—to little effect.
• Primary obstacle: lack of political will for decisive action; Mexico always hedged, never fully investing in any plan, and US cooperation for tariff relief failed to materialize.

Quote:

"The chief flaw...when it comes to migration is that they always sit on the fence...they never really give any of them full follow-through."
– Irvin Ibargüen (41:27)

7. Surrender to the Current (Post-1980s)

Shifting to Remittances, Diasporic Support, and Acceptance

• By the 1980s, the Mexican state ceased trying to restrain emigration, instead focusing on maximizing remittances and fostering ties with the diaspora.
• Practical support: facilitating money transfers, consular services, cultural initiatives—but not promoting migrants' physical return.
• Current policy: “general surrender to migration”; efforts center on aiding returnees/deportees in transient ways, not on systemic repatriation or domestic integration (44:24–46:45).

Quote:

"Statesmen gave in to migration... The focus from the 80s onwards is...how do we get their money...to come over to the Mexican side. There’s much more of a general surrender to migration."
– Irvin Ibargüen (45:08)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• On Myth-Busting the Safety Valve:
  "What I try to underline is that the migration was thought of and perceived as a very fluid situation... both Mexican and American statesmen faced [the reality] that migration seemed not to obey their policy." (05:31)

• On Migrant Power:
  "Migrants are actually quite able to negotiate their mobility vis a vis the Mexican state and sometimes even flat out undermine Mexican efforts... they ultimately choose mobility itself." (11:12)

• Explaining Autonomous Flexibility:
  "In practice… the migration is kind of slipping away from its control, in particular, the conditions that migrant workers face." (17:28)

• On 1954's Crisis:
  "This is a very intense emotional moment actually in Mexican politics... a kind of migratory Armageddon." (22:22)

• On Internal Bracero Program Corruption:
  "They were showing up...with the relevant paperwork...but not being given expedited passage...people who were paying bribes...were being expedited." (31:42)

• On Contemporary Surrender:
  "You don’t really see a kind of a corollary burgeoning in Mexico of some kind of like counter migratory discourse and politics...that is something you did see in the earlier era." (47:54)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Setting the Stage: Challenging Old Narratives (02:26–05:13)
• Methodology & Scholarly Positioning (05:13–12:52)
• Bracero Program & Autonomous Flexibility (12:52–19:03)
• 1954 Border Crisis (19:03–27:44)
• Internal Migration & Bracero Program Fallout (27:44–36:07)
• 1960s-70s "Flailing" Era (36:07–44:18)
• 1980–present: Surrender and Remittances (44:18–49:28)
• Ibargüen's Next Project: True North (49:28–52:48)

Author’s New Project

• Next Book: "True North"
  Focuses on Central American migrants (1970s-80s), the lived complexity of migratory experience, the concept of an "immigrant compass," and how displacement is shaped by US interventions and shifting geographies (49:40–52:48).

Final Thoughts

Rachel Newman closes by praising the book’s fresh perspective and transnational approach. Caught in the Current emerges as a vital resource, forcing readers to rethink not just Mexican migration policy, but also broader assumptions about state power, migrant agency, and North American history.