This chapter addresses the question of why migrants or transmigrants from Mexico construct and maintain transnational social fields. It reviews reasons for transnationalism and their applicability to the Mexico-United States case, and makes an argument for analyzing status in transnational migration. The chapter discusses practices related to the claiming and valorization of status in transnational social fields with reference to individuals, families, communities, and relations between the Mexican state and transmigrant organizations. Most of the information comes from research conducted between 1988 and 1990 in Las Animas, a village in southern Zacatecas, and parts of California where Animenos live and work, and from follow-up visits with Animenos in Mexico and California. A transnationalized locality's status and regional position may also improve because of the upward mobility, wealth and emerging power of its transmigrant and non-migrant members, acting as individuals or as part of an organized group.