Delivered by Intellect to: Rubén Hernández-León (33342986) IP: 131.179.222.55 On: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:47:40 TJTM XX (XX) pp. 00–00 Intellect Limited 2024 Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration Volume XX Number XX www.intellectbooks.com 1 © 2024 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00061_1 Received 14 March 2023; Accepted 5 January 2024; Published Online March 2024 RUBÉN HERNÁNDEZ-LEÓN UCLA EFRÉN SANDOVAL CIESAS-Noreste The end of Mexico–US migration as we knew it – or back to the future? ABSTRACT Over the last decade, scholars have declared the collapse of the Mexico–US system of undocumented migration. The H2 visa programme, a regime of managed sojourning is replacing the system of unauthorized cross-border mobility. In fiscal year 2023, the US government issued nearly 370,000 H2 temporary work visas to Mexicans. This temporary migrant labour programme is also bringing back circu- lation, temporary legal stays, and mostly male cross-border mobility – features that are akin to the old Bracero Program (1942–64). We contend that the resto- ration of these legal and sociodemographic dynamics undermines critical pillars of the system of undocumented labour mobility, limiting and reorienting the role of social networks, and potentially ending the way Mexico–United States has functioned for the past half century. We use ethnographic, interview and survey data to analyse the expansion of this new regime of highly mediated cross-border mobility, the ascent of the brokerage apparatus, and its effect transforming the social infrastructure of migration. We ask, specifically, how does the H2 tempo- rary migrant labour programme constrain and diminish kin and hometown-based social networks, previously seen as ‘the engine of migration’? How does the shift from migrant networks to a brokerage apparatus impact trust, reciprocity and the development of migratory social capital? How is the new regime changing the KEYWORDS H2 visa temporary migration brokerage apparatus migration industry undocumented labour social networks TJTM pp. 1–18 Intellect Limited 2024 © 2024 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00061_1 Received 14 March 2023; Accepted 5 January 2024; Published Online March 2024