TL;DR: This paper explored how the migratory process shapes ethnicity in transnational communities through an examination of the Guatemalan Mayan (Kanjobal) migrant circuit that links Santa Eulalia and Los Angeles, concluding that transnational migration exacerbates class and social stratification in the sending community as immigrants in the host society confront adverse conditions that include racial/ethnic discrimination, restrictive US immigration policies and an increasingly competitive secondary sector labor market.