Cross-Border Labor Protection Dilemmas of Mexican Circular
Migrants Under U.S. Immigration Regulatory Regimes
Author: Ethan James Bennetta, Marcus Terrell Jacksonb, Kenji Michael Tanakac, Hiroshi David Satod
Corresponding Author : Ethan James Bennett . E-mail: ethan.bennett@stateu.edu.us
a Maplewood State University, 123 University Boulevard, Maplewood, 48207, United States
b Department of Public Policy, Maplewood State University, 123 University Boulevard, Maplewood, 48207, United States
c Oakridge Research Institute, 456 Science Drive, Oakridge, 37830, United States
d Pacific Coast University, 789 Coastal Lane, San Marina, 90405, United States
Journal Metadata: American International Journal of Social & Economic Research, Vol.1, Issue 1, Pages 1–12, 2026
Abstract
The U.S.-Mexico border forms North America’s core seasonal cross-border labor circulation system. Legal circular migrants holding H-2A/H-2B visas still face systematic labor discrimination and inadequate official protection. Most existing studies focus on illegal border migration while ignoring the institutional exploitation of temporary legal migrant workers. This paper adopts mixed methods including policy comparison and semi-structured field interviews, collects 72 valid samples to analyze multi-layer institutional barriers, and proposes coordinated bilateral cross-border labor governance solutions.
Keywords: U.S.-Mexico border; circular migrants; temporary visa regime; cross-border labor governance; transnational labor protection
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© 2026 Ethan James Bennett. This article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided appropriate credit to the original author and source is given.