US-Mexico Binational Indigenous Migration

By Rufino Dominguez Santos, General Coordinator fo the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations (FIOB)

Indigenous leader and HIP Funders' Collaborative grantee Rufino Dominguez Santos shares a very personal perspective on the social, economic, political, and cultural impacts of migration on Oaxacan indigenous communities. "The early 1980’s saw a huge migration of Oaxacan indigenous communities to the United States," he writes, "where entire families would cross the border to enter a foreign land that was far different from their own, but that at last offered a better economic situation. Once they arrived, they saw that you can survive for a week on a day’s work, while in Mexico you would have to work an entire week to be able to survive one day.  However, all is not roses in the United States; we have similar problems to the ones we experienced in our own country."

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