Thread: More Mexicans returning home, fewer coming to U.S.

More Mexicans returning home, fewer coming to U.S.

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAYUpdated 17m ago

Mexican immigration to the United States is on the brink of a historic reversal: More Mexicans may be going back to Mexico than coming in, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report Monday.

The influx of Mexicans, which has dominated U.S. immigration patterns for four decades, began to tumble in 2006 and 2007 as the housing bust and recession created a dearth of jobs. At the same time, the number of Mexicans returning to their native country along with their U.S.-born children soared.

Stricter border enforcement, more deportations and tough state immigration laws such as the Arizona statute being challenged before the Supreme Court on Wednesday probably also contributed to the shift, says Jeffrey Passel, lead author of the report. The study analyzed data from censuses and a variety of other sources in both countries.

"There was a suspicion that people were going back" but results of the Mexican census confirmed it, he says. "They point to a fairly large number of people going back to Mexico."

From 2005 to 2010, 1.4 million Mexicans came to the USA— down by more than half from the 3 million who came from 1995 to 2000. From 2005 to 2010 , the number of Mexicans who moved from the USA to Mexico rose to 1.4 million, roughly double the number who had done so 10 years before.

Passel says the data suggest that the return flow to Mexico probably surpassed the incoming flow in the last two years.

He attributes some of the changes to lower fertility rates in Mexico (an average 2.4 children in 2009 compared with 7.3 in 1960) and improving social conditions there. According to the report, a growing share of illegal immigrants who are sent home say they won't come back to the USA — 7% in 2005 vs. 29% 2010.

Will this reversal in Mexican migration continue when the U.S. economy rebounds? "We can't tell," Passel says.

"What it does tell us is that immigration is not the weather," says Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates controlling immigration. "It's not something that's outside the control of human agencies. It can change. … People do, in fact, go home based on the economy and based on enforcement."

Mexican flows are key to the immigration debate because 58% of the 11.2 million immigrants here illegally are Mexican. Just over half of all Mexican immigrants in the USA are here illegally.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., last week proposed a bill that would allow young undocumented immigrants to remain in the USA but would not let them become citizens. He calls it a conservative alternative to the DREAM Act, a bill that would let young people here illegally become citizens if they attend college or join the military.

The decline in Mexican flows to the USA is not expected to soften the debate over illegal immigration, Camarota says.

"If you're someone who said, 'Let's enforce the law first and foremost,' then you think why have amnesty," he says. "The big question is what will happen if the economy begins to create jobs, what happens if some of these state laws get overturned."

U.S. recession drives Mexicans back home, stops others from coming in

Oh Really well I see just as many in front of home depot and other places as before and I still see them speaking spanish and working at most places I go...Believe the propaganda swill they keep slinging if you want but I don't!!!!

For anyone who believes this idiot, I have a bridge for sale...

Just look at the source, USA Today often writes articles like this.

From GOOGLE News

Mexican migration to US at standstill
Houston Chronicle - ‎48 minutes ago‎
By Jason Buch SAN ANTONIO - The decades-long march of Mexican immigrants into the US, the greatest influx in this country's history, has apparently ground to a halt. For the first time since the 1930s, the number of Mexican immigrants - legal and ...

Mexican immigration at a standstill, report says
Los Angeles Times - ‎59 minutes ago‎
The number of Mexican migrants to the United States dropped significantly while the number of those returning home increased, bringing net migration from Mexico to a statistical standstill, according to a report published Monday.

For first time since Depression, more Mexicans leave US than enter
Washington Post - ‎2 hours ago‎
A four-decade tidal wave of Mexican immigration to the United States has receded, causing a historic shift in migration patterns as more Mexicans appear to be leaving the United States for Mexico than the other way around, according to a report from ...

Mexican immigration to US at a standstill - report
TVNZ - ‎2 hours ago‎
Mexicans wait in line to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in Tijuana, Mexico. - Source: Mexicans immigration The flow of immigrants into the United States from Mexico has come to a standstill and may have reversed, ...

Immigration from Mexico to US at standstill
Financial Times - ‎3 hours ago‎
By Anna Fifield in Washington
The net flow of immigrants from Mexico to the US has ground to a halt and may have reversed, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, ending what the report calls the “largest wave of immigration in history” from one country ...

Number of illegal immigrants from Mexico drops for the first time in decades ...
New York Daily News - ‎5 hours ago‎
AP For the first time in decades, the number of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the US has dropped significantly, a dramatic shift as many illegal workers, already in the US and seeing few job opportunities, return to Mexico.

Tide Turns on Border Crossing
Wall Street Journal - ‎5 hours ago‎
By MIRIAM JORDAN
Net migration from Mexico has plummeted to zero thanks to changing demographic and economic conditions on both sides of the border, a new study says, even as political battles over illegal immigration heat up and the issue heads to the ...

Strong border controls, threats from cartels, and a lack of jobs are prompting ...
Daily Mail - ‎3 minutes ago‎
By Daily Mail Reporter The number of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the US has dropped significantly for the first time in decades, showing a dramatic shift as many illegal workers are moving back to Mexico from the US because there are so few ...

All 73 related articles »

By Tara Bahrampour, Monday, April 23, 6:06 PM
Washington Post


A four-decade tidal wave of Mexican immigration to the United States has receded, causing a historic shift in migration patterns as more Mexicans appear to be leaving the United States for Mexico than the other way around, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center.


It looks to be the first reversal in the trend since the Depression, and experts say that a declining Mexican birthrate and other factors may make it permanent.


“I think the massive boom in Mexican immigration is over and I don’t think it will ever return to the numbers we saw in the 1990s and 2000s,” said Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which has been gathering data on the subject for 30 years.


Nearly 1.4 million Mexicans moved from the United States to Mexico between 2005 and 2010, double the number who did so a decade earlier. The number of Mexicans who moved to the United States during that period fell to less than half of the 3 million who came between 1995 and 2000.


....


According to the report, the Mexican-born population, which had been increasing since 1970, peaked at 12.6 million in 2007 and has dropped to 12 million since then.


The reversal appears to be a result of tightened border controls, a weak U.S. job and housing construction market, a rise in deportations and a decline in Mexican birthrates, said the study, which used U.S. and Mexican census figures and Mexican government surveys. Arrests of illegal immigrants trying to enter the United States have also dropped precipitously in recent years.


...


Half of those returning to Mexico took their entire families, including more than 100,000 U.S.-born children of Mexican immigrants. Children born in the United States to Mexican nationals are citizens of both countries.


The drop comes at a time when overall immigration to the United States continues to grow, and reflects several factors specific to Mexico, including a relatively strong economy and a sharply diminished birthrate.


In 1960, a typical Mexican woman was expected to have more than seven children, but by 2009 that number had dropped to just over two — a decline that presages a sharp reduction in the number of young workers seeking to come to the United States.


...


But the era of entire villages moving from Mexico to the United States may be over, said Randy Capps, a senior policy analyst and demographer at the Migration Policy Institute.


Instead, he said, the current reversal may be similar to the reduced flow from Germany and Ireland a century ago. He predicted a negative feedback loop as fewer potential immigrants have connections to the United States.


“If this goes on for much longer, it’s going to take a lot to reverse it,” Capps said. “A lot of migration is based on networks — people who know people who know about the environment they’re going to be moving into. When the jobs disappear and the people you know aren’t there anymore, this channel of communication either dries up or it becomes so negative that it just changes everybody’s mind.”


Gustavo Velasquez, 38, who came from Oaxaca, Mexico, 12 years ago and serves as the director of the D.C. Office on Human Rights, said that the scarcity of U.S. jobs is causing more Mexicans to think twice about moving.


It is better to be unemployed in Mexico than to be unemployed in the United States, he said, because most migrant workers leave their families in Mexico. “They miss the warmth of being in a welcoming community,” he said, adding that with tougher border control and more deportations, Mexicans would rather be in a “precarious situation than in a situation of fear.”




Staff writers Stefanie Dazio, Carol Morello and Peter Wallsten contributed to this report.




Read the entire article here:

For first time since Depression, more Mexicans leave U.S. than enter - The Washington Post




Hmm...

Very interesting development we have here. Seems that this particular era of Mexican immigration is coming to an end. At least until the economy returns to pre-recession levels some 10 years from now...

One in 10 people born in Mexico live in the United States, and more than half entered illegally. Most live in California and Texas; about 120,000 live in the Washington region.

1 on 10? that is a LOT.

“I think the massive boom in Mexican immigration is over and I don’t think it will ever return to the numbers we saw in the 1990s and 2000s,” said Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which has been gathering data on the subject for 30 years.

Professor Massey's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005.

Testimony of

Douglas Massey

May 26, 2005

Testimony Before Immigration Subcommittee
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
May 26, 2005


My name is Douglas S. Massey and I am Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Since 1982 I have co-directed a large project studying Mexican Migration to the United States with my colleague Jorge Durand of the University of Guadalajara. The Mexican Migration Project, which is funded by NICHD and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, offers the most comprehensive and reliable source of data available on documented and undocumented migration from Mexico. The project won a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health and based partly on its stature in the field, Jorge and I have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.


Two decades of intensive research using these data reveal a fundamental contradiction at the heart of U.S. relations with Mexico. On the one hand, we have joined with that country to create an integrated North American market characterized by the relatively free cross-border movement of capital, goods, services, and information. Since 1986 total trade with Mexico has increased by a factor of eight. On the other hand, we have also sought to block the cross-border movement of workers. The United States criminalized undocumented hiring in 1986 and over the next 15 years tripled the size of the Border Patrol while increasing its budget tenfold.


This escalation of border enforcement was not connected to any change in the rate of undocumented migration from Mexico. Rather U.S. policy makers somehow hoped to finesse a contradiction, integrating all markets in North America except one--that for labor. This contradictory stance has led to continued migration under terms that are harmful to the United States, disadvantageous for Mexico, injurious to American workers, and inhumane to the migrants themselves.


Rather than increasing the likelihood of apprehension, the militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border has reduced it to a forty-year low, channeling migrants to remote sectors where the chance of getting caught is actually quite small. In these relatively unguarded sectors, however, the risk of death is greater and mortality among migrants has tripled, bringing about the needless death of 300-400 persons per year. Although U.S. efforts to increase the costs and risks of border crossing did not discourage undocumented migrants from coming, they did deter them from going home. Once in the United States, migrants are reluctant to face again the gauntlet at the border so they stay put and send for family members. The end result has been an unprecedented increase in the size of the undocumented population. The hardening of the border in San Diego and El Paso also pushed migrants away from traditional destinations towards new receiving areas.


In the end, during the 1990s what had been a circular flow of able-bodied workers into three states became a settled population of families scattered across 50 states, significantly increasing the social costs of migration to U.S. taxpayers. The economic costs were likewise exacerbated by the criminalization of undocumented hiring in 1986, in an effort to eliminate the "magnet" of U.S. jobs. This action only encouraged U.S. employers to shift from direct hiring to labor subcontracting. Rather than dealing directly with migrants, employers began to work through intermediaries to escapes the burdens of paperwork and the risks of prosecution. In return, subcontractors pocketed a portion of the wage bill that formerly went to migrants, thereby lowering their wages. Unfortunately, the ultimate effect was not to eliminate undocumented hiring, but to undermine wages and working conditions in the United States, not so much for undocumented migrants who had always earned meager wages but for authorized workers who had formerly been able to improve their earnings over time. In the new regime, everyone had to work through a subcontractor regardless of legal status and the advantaged bargaining position once enjoyed by U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens was nullified.


At this point, all we have to show for two decades of contradictory policies towards Mexico is a negligible deterrent effect, a growing pile of corpses, record low probabilities of apprehension at the border, falling rates of return migration, accelerating undocumented population growth, downward pressure on U.S. wages and working conditions, and billions of dollars in wasted money. These outcomes are not simply my opinion, but are scientific facts that can be reproduced by anyone else using data publicly available from the Mexican Migration Project website.


The situation is thus ripe for reform. Rather than undertaking repressive actions to block migratory flows that are a natural consequence of Mexico's economic transformation and its ongoing integration with the United States, a more salutary approach would be to bring labor flows above board and manage them in ways that are beneficial to both nations.


The steps that I believe are needed to accomplish this reform include but are not limited to: (1) the creation of a temporary visa program that gives migrants rights in the United States and allows them to exercise their natural inclination to return home; (2) expanding the quota for legal immigration from Mexico, a country with a one trillion dollar economy and 105 million people to whom we are bound by history, geography, and a well-functioning free trade agreement; (3) offering amnesty to children of undocumented migrants who the United States entered as minors and who have stayed out of trouble; and (4) establishing an earned legalization program for those who entered the United States in authorized status as adults.


These actions, along with others I can enumerate, would go along way toward resolving the current mess. They would enable the United States to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of a migration that will likely occur in any event. The approach of management rather than repression will better protect American workers and allow Mexico to develop more quickly to the point where the forces now promoting large-scale migration ultimately disappear. The legislation submitted to Congress by Senators Kennedy and McCain moves the agenda of immigration reform substantially in this direction, and for this reason I support it.

Testimony


Information on the views and roots of the Mexican Migration Project at:
We are supported by...

The Mexican Migration Project is supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5 R37-HD24047, R01 HD35643) and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (94-7795), whose continuing contributions are gratefully acknowledged. The1982 round of surveys was originally fielded with support from grant 1 R01-HD15166, also from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.


MMP - Home

By the way,

Director's Opening Statement on the FY 2012 President's Budget Request for the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESNATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Fiscal Year 2012 Budget RequestSenate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and Related AgenciesAlan E. Guttmacher, M.D.
Director
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

May 11, 2011

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the FY 2012 President's budget request for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of $1,352,189,000. This reflects an increase of $ 23,385,000 over the FY 2010 actual level of $1,328,804,000.


In my short time as NICHD Director, the breadth and importance of the Institute’s mission have already impressed me. Our research changes clinical practice and improves health for many people, particularly those who medical research may otherwise overlook: pregnant women and their offspring, adolescents, and people with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. Our research shows that even simple approaches can have significant impact. For example, a recent study found that an inexpensive program teaching newborn care to Zambian midwives reduced deaths in the first week of life by 40 percent. Today, I would like to highlight a few other examples of NICHD’s recent progress toward improving health, and describe a new effort to position our research to continue to contribute to a healthier nation and world.
NICHD Director's Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations, Opening Statement for Fiscal Year 2012



Grants Awarded to States – In FY 2011, the 7 state governments receiving the most HHS grant funds were CA, NY, TX, PA, FL, OH, and IL.
TAGGS Home

Report: Illegal Immigration Plummeting Over Economy, Border Enforcement
April 24, 2012 8:14 AM


(credit: HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images)
(CBS)

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — For the first time in over 20 years, the number of people illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico has plummeted.

KNX 1070′s Tom Reopelle reports researchers are crediting several factors for the sharp drop in illegal immigration.

A report by the Pew Hispanic Center released this week showed about 6.1 million illegal immigrants from Mexico are living in the States — down nearly 1 million people from 2007.

While the number of authorized Mexican immigrants rose modestly by about 200,000 between 2007 and 2011, the report found nearly 58 percent of all illegal immigrants living in the U.S. are Mexican.

The next largest country of origin for U.S. immigrants is China, which accounts for 5 percent of nearly 40 million immigrants in the U.S.

D’Vera Cohn with the Pew Hispanic Center said while the lack of jobs may be a big factor, there are other elements fueling the trend.

“It’s not just the economy, it’s also maybe the border enforcement has gotten tighter, there have been increases in deportations, and conditions in Mexico may have gotten better,” said Cohn.

The report also noted that while apprehensions at the border have decreased, deportations of illegal immigrants have risen to record levels, with nearly 400,000 deported in 2010 alone — 73 percent of whom came from Mexico.

Cohn said immigrants are faced with fewer options now that “crossing the border has become more dangerous when you’re doing it illegally”.

Although no nation has sent as many immigrants to the U.S. as Mexico, more repatriated Mexicans are planning on staying in their native land: as many as 20 percent of labor migrants in 201 said they have no plans to return, compared with 7 percent in 2005.
Need a babysitter? Find the most qualified sitters at


Pew Hispanic Report 2012
http://cbsla.files.wordpress.com/201...-migration.pdf


Report: Illegal Immigration Plummeting Over Economy, Border Enforcement « CBS Los Angeles

Yes, the mainstream media is falling all over themselves reporting this. I don't buy it.

The US Has Finally Done It: Mexican Immigrants Become Emigrants


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/24/2012 10:24 -0400

You know its bad when...the net flow of Mexicans into the US has fallen so much that there is a high probability that it is now in reverse ending around forty years of inward migration. The Pew Hispanic Center notes that the standstill - after more than 12 million current immigrants have entered the US - more than half of whom are illegal - appears to be the result of many factors including a weakened US job and construction market, tougher border enforcement, a rise in deportations, growing dangers associated with border crossing, a long-term decline in Mexico's birth rate, and changing (read perhaps more opportunistic) economic conditions in Mexico (especially if you work at WalMex). This sharp downward trend in net migration has led to the first significant decrease in at least two decades in the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. - to 6.1 million in 2011, down from a peak of nearly 7 million in 2007. In the five years from 2005 to 2010, about 1.4m Mexicans immigrated to the US – exactly the same number of Mexican immigrants and their US-born children who quit the US and moved back or were deported to Mexico. By contrast, in the previous five years to 2000 some 3m Mexicans came to the US and fewer than 700,000 left it. It will be interesting to see the spin that the Obama and Romney camps put on this hot-button topic as the 'Dream Act' turns into a nightmare and hardline anti-illegal immigration stances become, well, less relevant as Mexicans become Mexican'ts.




Among the report’s key findings:

• In the five-year period from 2005 to 2010, about 1.4 million Mexicans immigrated to the United States and about 1.4 million Mexican immigrants and their U.S.-born children moved from the United States to Mexico.
• In the five-year period a decade earlier (1995 to 2000), about 3 million Mexicans had immigrated to the U.S. and fewer than 700,000 Mexicans and their U.S. born-children had moved from the U.S. to Mexico.
• This sharp downward trend in net migration has led to the first significant decrease in at least two decades in the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants living in the U.S.—to 6.1 million in 2011, down from a peak of nearly 7 million in 2007. Over the same period the number of authorized Mexican immigrants rose modestly, from 5.6 million in 2007 to 5.8 million in 2011.
• Mexicans now comprise about 58% of the unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. They also account for 30% of all U.S. immigrants. The next largest country of origin for U.S. immigrants, China, accounts for just 5% of the nation’s stock of nearly 40 million immigrants.
• Apprehensions of Mexicans trying to cross the border illegally have plummeted by more than 70% in recent years, from more than 1 million in 2005 to 286,000 in 2011—a likely indication that fewer unauthorized immigrants are trying to cross. This decline has occurred at a time when funding in the U.S. for border enforcement—including more agents and more fencing—has risen sharply.
• As apprehensions at the border have declined, deportations of unauthorized Mexican immigrants—some of them picked up at work or after being arrested for other criminal violations—have risen to record levels. In 2010, nearly 400,000 unauthorized immigrants—73% of them Mexicans—were deported by U.S. authorities.
• Although most unauthorized Mexican immigrants sent home by U.S. authorities say they plan to try to return, a growing share say they will not try to come back to the U.S. According to a survey by Mexican authorities of repatriated immigrants, 20% of labor migrants in 2010 said they would not return, compared with just 7% in 2005.
• Looking back over the entire span of U.S. history, no country has ever sent as many immigrants to this country as Mexico has in the past four decades. However, when measured not in absolute numbers but as a share of the immigrant population at the time, immigration waves from Germany and Ireland in the late 19th century equaled or exceeded the modern wave from Mexico.

and the full report is here: Mexicants - Reverse Immigration



The US Has Finally Done It: Mexican Immigrants Become Emigrants | ZeroHedge