Report: Mexican immigration to U.S. plummets

Immigration from Mexico to the U.S. fell to its lowest point in a decade according to a report issued today by the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC).

PHC researchers analyzed data from entities like the Census Bureau, the Mexican government, and the Border Patrol and concluded that such a steep drop-off was due to the weakening U.S. economy. Specifically, the dried-up housing market helped put the brakes on construction and other low-wage jobs that are sought after by immigrant laborers. Thus the number of migrants from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, a drop of about 60% from the previous year.

Despite the decline in Mexican immigration into the U.S., the number of Mexicans returning to their homeland has remained steady. Again, the economy comes into play though the broken immigration system is also a factor:

Still, immigrants already in the U.S. are opting not to return to Mexico, because many of them are betting the economy will improve as well as perhaps hoping that immigration reform could soon pave the way for U.S. citizenship, said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at Pew who co-authored the study.

According to the data, the level of Mexican migrants who return home from the U.S. and other countries each year — roughly 450,000 — has remained largely unchanged.

"There's not a lot in Mexico to go back to, because if anything the Mexican economy is doing worse," Passel said. "But also, in light of enforcement that has made it more dangerous and expensive to get into the U.S., once people get here, they're reluctant to leave."

The PHC report also claimed that one-third of all foreign-born U.S. residents and two-thirds of Latino immigrants to the U.S. come from Mexico.

Image- CNN
Online Sources- CNN, AP, AFP, UPI, Pew Hispanic Center