When we think about migration, we tend to think about those who leave or those who stay behind — rarely about those who return. Jacona, Michoacán, a small town in western Mexico, is one of many communities transformed by the influence of the United States through its own residents, who come back from their pursuit of the American Dream carrying new tastes, fashions, and habits absorbed along the way.

M of Michoacán documents the importation of gang culture through the lives of residents from the San Pablo neighborhood and surrounding areas, where the Michoacán–California route has become, out of necessity, a generational custom. Many of these migrants — whether by circumstance or choice — became involved in gangs, and upon returning home brought those learned habits with them, reframing them within their own environment, where they were then adopted by the next generation.

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