The Mestizo Nation Unbound: Dual citizenship of Euro-Mexicans and US-Mexicans Pablo Mateos CIESAS Research Center, Guadalajara, Mexico
[email protected] 1 Introduction On December 12th 1996, the Mexican Congress approved a constitutional reform know as “non- forfeiture” (no pérdida) of Mexican nationality, together with a new nationality law that for the first time allowed dual nationality for native Mexicans. That Congress chose such a symbolic date to pass this legislation, the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of the most important icons of Mexico’s nationalism, is very telling of the intentions behind this reform. This new law did not enter into force until March 20th 1998, the date from which Mexican dual nationality is officially sanctioned. Today, twenty years after this constitutional reform, it is about time to evaluate its effects on both sides of the US-Mexican border and, to a lesser respect, the Atlantic Ocean, against the stated original objectives set by this important policy milestone. This landmark constitutional reform signaled a dramatic shift in Mexican nationality policy that took place during the 1990s, aimed at engaging with their diaspora in the US Twenty years on, the total population entitled to dual Mexican citizenship -whether they actually exercise that right or not- is actually the world's largest true multiple citizenship collective, comprised of at least 15 million people, with the right to live and work in various countries, mostly the US and the European Union (EU). Dual Mexican citizens typically fall in one of two major groups. The main one is US-Mexicans, primarily associated with a low socioeconomic and more mixed (mestizo) or indigenous background of rural origins, although there are substantial exceptions of middle and upper class US-Mexicans along the 3000km border region.