Three theories that purport to explain where migrants go are set forth, then examined for explanatory validity using data acquired from a study of a relatively affluent rancho in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The theories include the immigration market, the stage migration, and the network-mediated chain migration theories. It is found that the network mediated migration theory, with modifications including a movement from bilocational to multilocational conceptualizations, has the greatest value in explaining transnational wage labor migration from the rancho to multiple destination points in the US. Migrants may chose to join friends and/or kin in a variety of locations upon their first crossing, and may work in several towns and/or cities in the United States over their migratory careers.
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Tamar Diana Wilson (1994) studied this question.