Financial Biographies of Refugees in Mexico

By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of profiles from Mexico explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In Mexico, we interviewed migrants and asylum seekers from Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela and learned how native Spanish speakers, surprisingly, did not always do better than those who were learning Spanish as a second language. Haitians were coping well and some had perfected a Mexican accent.

The biographies in this publication are intended to preserve the entire financial story of selected respondents and are meant to supplement our other publications, taking the reader into the depths of individual migrant experiences.

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