Mexico’s migrants return as the American dream fades

Silvano Ramos, 36, left his home of Chilcuautla, a town of 12,000 inhabitants in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, 12 years ago. He left, like so many others, in search of the American dream.

He crossed the river Rio Grande – or Rio Bravo as it’s known in Mexico – along the Texas border to work illegally as a construction worker in Nevada.

But when the US economy began to stall with the housing market collapse six years ago, he decided to leave that dream behind. Last January he became the mayor of Chilcuautla, where 80% of the population has a family member in the US.

He represents a new wave of Mexicans who are deciding to return home – though it is unclear whether their homeland is ready to take them all back