When novelist Francisco Goldman -- a Guatemalan-American who when last heard from was living in Mexico -- was once asked where in the world he feels most at home. He responded only half-jokingly: "At the news stand of the Miami airport, where tourists from New York bump into visitors from Venezuela, Peru and Argentina.''

 I was reminded of Goldman's words this week, after experts at an Inter-American Development Bank conference in Washington, D.C., spoke about the emergence of a new phenomenon they say will change the nature of U.S.-Latin American relations: the transnational citizen.

 While recent U.S. census figures showing a record 34 million Hispanics in the United States surpassed the boldest demographic projections, the most interesting
 phenomenon is the changing nature of this ethnic group: Increasingly, it is made up of Latin American-born migrants who go back and forth between their two homelands.

 In the past, most U.S. Hispanics were English-speaking descendants of Latin American immigrants, or recently arrived emigres who would gradually lose their ties to their native countries. But because of massive recent migrations, nearly 15 million of today's U.S. Hispanics were born in Latin America, and their numbers are likely to keep growing.

 Last year, remittances from many of these Latin American-born Hispanics to their native countries reached a record $20 billion, according to a new IDB study.

 Over the next 10 years, "the importance of remittances to the region will grow significantly,'' because growing numbers of migrants will maintain closer ties to their home countries, it says.

 "It used to be that, once you left your country, after a few years you lost touch with it,'' said Donald Terry, an IDB expert on migration trends. "Now, as a result of the transportation and communications revolution, it's an entirely different story.''

 It's no wonder that, in separate recent meetings with President George W. Bush, the main demand by Mexican President Vicente Fox and Salvadoran President
 Francisco Flores was not more aid, but legal status for their migrant workers in the United States. They are watching the new trend, and want to make the most of it.

 Consider the figures: in 2000, migrant workers and permanent emigres sent nearly $7 billion a year to Mexico, $1.9 billion to Brazil, $1.7 billion to the Dominican Republic, $1.6 billion to El Salvador, $1.3 billion to Ecuador, $819 million to Peru, $800 million to Cuba, $720 million to Haiti and $612 million to Colombia.

 In many countries, remittances are already the biggest source of foreign income. And increasingly, rather than being considered a source of family disruption or national shame, emigres are seen in Latin America as a fact of life of today's global economy, much like New Yorkers feel about a relative moving to Chicago for a better job opportunity.

 "Transnationalism is becoming a reality for today's migrants,'' said Susan F. Martin, head of Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration. Cheaper air fares and telephone calls are making it easier to move to another country and keep contact with one's home community, she explained.

 As has happened in the European Union, this trend is bound to accelerate if planned U.S.-Latin American free trade agreements allow greater migration of managers and professionals.

 Already, under a little-noticed clause of the 1994 free trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico, U.S. immigration authorities will have to remove some restrictions on work visas to Mexican executives, professionals and skilled workers by 2004. Similar provisions are expected in future U.S.-Latin American free trade deals, experts say.

 In addition, we may see more community-to-community remittances, experts say. According to one study, the Salvadoran "United Community of Chinameca'' in the
 United States has already sent $43,000 for a Red Cross clinic, $32,000 for an ambulance, $10,000 for a septic tank and $5,000 to build a school in its native town.

 Politically, the new transnational citizens will become increasingly important voting blocs with growing clout in Washington, D.C.

 By 2010, about 70 percent of U.S. Hispanic voters will be born in Latin America, and they will live in the states with the largest number of electoral votes, projections show. These voters are likely to care more than their U.S.-born predecessors about issues such as immigration, free trade, and foreign aid. For instance, they may want more trade deals to do business with their native countries.

 It's hard to foresee how many people will find themselves most at home at an airport somewhere between their two homelands in coming years. But, based on what the experts say, we may be seeing only the beginning of this trend.

                                    © 2001