Mexicans deported from the U.S. return to find hometowns controlled by narcos

Returning home is always weird, whether the trip is dreamed of or dreaded.

Depending on how long a person’s been away, families have changed, friends have left, businesses have closed or opened, and nostalgia often interferes with reality.

Homecoming was the subject of a piece written by Times special correspondent Steve Fisher and my colleague Kate Linthicum.

The twist, however, is that the pair spoke with migrants recently deported back to Mexico after spending decades in the U.S.

For many of the tens of thousands of people deported by the Trump administration, returning migrants have discovered that their country has also changed in more profound ways.

Let’s jump into Fisher and Linthicum’s reporting and see what’s changed and how people are adjusting.

Criminal groups, better armed and better organized than in the past, now control about a third of Mexican territory, according to an analysis by the U.S. military.

Gangs have branched out beyond drug trafficking to extort money from small businesses and dominate entire industries, such as the avocado and lime trade.

In some regions, criminals charge taxes on just about anything — tortillas and chicken, cigarettes and beer.

Returning migrants are vulnerable to violence because they stand out.

Many speak Spanglish — a mashup of English and Spanish. Their stylish haircuts, often with fades on the sides, set them apart in rural communities.

Cartels single out returning migrants for kidnapping or extortion because they are perceived to have money.

Adrián Ramírez hadn’t been to his hometown in western Mexico for more than two decades. When he finally returned there early last year after being deported, he found the place transformed.

Ramírez remembered the town as vibrant. But the discotheque where he used to dance through the night in his 20s was gone. The bustling evening market, where locals gather for tacos, now empties out early. After 10 p.m., cartel members wielding military-grade weapons take control of the streets.

“It is no longer the same Mexico of my childhood,” said Ramírez, 45, who asked to be identified by his middle and last name for security reasons. “There was more joy, more freedom. But that’s not the case anymore.”

This story reminded me of another Linthicum piece from 2023, where she spoke with Mexican immigrants who worked for decades in the U.S. in the hopes of retiring back home.

Linthicum wrote about María Avila, who toiled at a Palm Springs country club by day, served meals to wealthy clients at night and cleaned houses and mended clothes on the weekend.

She slowly saved to build a home of her own back in Juanchorrey, the wind-swept pueblo high in the mountains in Zacatecas state where she grew up.

In 2020, however, narcos invaded the sleepy rancho and robbed, killed and kidnapped with abandon.

For Avila, who helps lead a federation of Zacatecan migrant groups that over decades has raised tens of millions of dollars for public work projects back home, the whole thing stung of betrayal.

“I’ve cried, I’ve prayed, what else can I do?” she said. “My dreams have been thwarted.”

Linthicum said her goal for the story was to highlight a side of deportation beyond U.S. politics.

“There are a lot of challenges for people returning to Mexico, including bureaucratic things like having the right paperwork to work or enroll their kids in school,” Linthicum said.

Both writers were interested not only in how the migrants’ former homes had changed over the decades, but how they themselves had changed during the same time span, Linthicum said.

“There’s a sense, an idea for these migrants that they’re not American enough for the United States but now they’re home and they’re too American,” Linthicum said. “This piece really tried to highlight that uncomfortable truth.”

Check out the full article here.

• A midwinter heat wave has descended on much of the state and is expected to spike temperatures as much as 20 degrees above normal in the coming week.
• The summer-like heat is thanks to a ridge of high pressure lingering in the atmosphere, extending through the San Francisco Bay Area and into the Pacific Northwest.
• Meteorologists with the National Weather Service expect it to last through the end of the week and potentially through Super Bowl Sunday.

• In the first of two State of the City addresses planned this year, Bass urged Angelenos to come together ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
• The mayor talked about a new clean streets initiative to “accelerate beautification” of major thoroughfares throughout the city.
• She also announced 100 free watch parties during the World Cup throughout the city, $14 million in rental assistance for Angelenos and the relaunch of the city’s House Our Vets program, which helps veterans find stable housing.

• The union, which has 250,000 members across dozens of industries, called on the California Public Utilities Commission Monday to indefinitely suspend the driverless car company’s license to operate.
• The demand comes less than two weeks after a Waymo self-driving taxi struck a child near a Santa Monica elementary school, triggering a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation.

• Disney names theme parks head Josh D’Amaro as its new CEO.
• A second measles case was reported in an international traveler who arrived at LAX and then visited a Disneyland park.
• L.A. parents who decapitated two of their kids and forced siblings to view the bodies, were sentenced.
• Trump threatens to sue Trevor Noah over Epstein joke at Grammys: “Going to have some fun with you!”
• A Santa Clarita girls hockey team won a championship days after a player’s dad was killed in an icy accident.
• Blood was found inside the home of Savannah Guthrie’s mom. The “Today” host says, “Raise your prayers.”

• Columnist Gustavo Arellano got a colonoscopy for his 47th birthday. The experience proved far less traumatic than commonly portrayed, he writes.
• The best being said for Trump’s pick for Fed chair is that it could have been worse, writes columnist Michael Hiltzik.
• Downtowns are dying, but we know how to save them, argues guest contributor Joel Kotkin.

• Art show: One of the world’s best collections of video art is coming to a historic theater in downtown L.A.
• Theater: Jason Alexander and Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” proves to be a bloody good match in La Mirada.

Isabelle DuBois’ favorite place to see the sunset in California is in Imperial County, 100 miles east of the San Diego coastline.

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

Read More