Thread: OH NO! Mexicans Miss Money From Relatives Up North

October 26, 2007
Mexicans Miss Money From Relatives Up North
By ELISABETH MALKIN

EL RODEO, Mexico — For years, millions of Mexican migrants working in the United States have sent money back home to villages like this one, money that allows families to pay medical bills and school fees, build houses and buy clothes or, if they save enough, maybe start a tiny business.

But after years of strong increases, the amount of migrant money flowing to Mexico has stagnated. From 2000 to 2006, remittances grew to nearly $24 billion a year from $6.6 billion, rising more than 20 percent some years. In 2007, the increase so far has been less than 2 percent.

Migrants and migration experts say a flagging American economy and an enforcement campaign against illegal workers in the United States have persuaded some migrants not to try to cross the border illegally to look for work. Others have decided to return to Mexico. And many of those who are staying in the United States are sending less money home.

In the rest of the world, remittances are rising, up as much as 10 percent a year, according to Donald F. Terry of the Inter-American Development Bank. Last year, migrant workers worldwide sent more than $300 billion to developing countries — almost twice the amount of foreign direct investment.

But in Mexico, families are feeling squeezed.

Estrella Rivera, a slight 27-year-old in this stone-paved village in Guanajuato state in central Mexico, was hoping to use the money her husband, Alonso, sent back from working illegally in Texas to build a small clothing shop at the edge of her garden.

But a month ago, Mr. Rivera returned home. His hours at a Dallas window-screen factory were cut and rumors spread that he would inevitably have to produce a valid Social Security number. Now, he works odd jobs or tends cornfields. Mrs. Rivera’s shop is indefinitely delayed, a pile of bricks stacked on the grass.

Like Mr. Rivera, some of the men who went to work in the United States illegally have returned discouraged. And less work means less money to send home — particularly from the southern United States and other areas where Mexican migrants are a more recent presence.

“One out of three people in these new states who was sending a year ago is not sending it home today,â€

[quote]Mrs. Rivera’s husband is not so sure. “It’s really tough to go back,â€

Her husband has been home from Houston for a year, but she has seven brothers and a sister in the United States who still send money. She is planning a new business, perhaps an Internet cafe so people can connect with relatives in the United States.

Don't bother, because we plan on sending many of those so-called relatives back home soon.

If this trend continues, hopefully it will force the Mexican govt to FINALLY DO SOMETHING FOR ITS POOR!!

"The shakier economy in many states means that migrants have moved from well-paying steady jobs to work as day laborers."


So illegals are taking jobs from other illegals. It was bound to happen.

Cry me a river you illegal bums.

Why not protest and demand that the government of Mejico help you like you DID here? Tough Sh**, Pedro!!!

Posting here because this is in reference to the above article.
~~

Is Crackdown on Illegals Working?

Posted By Warner Todd Huston On October 29, 2007 @ 1:58 am In Media, Politics, Current Events, Economics, Vox Populi | 1 Comment

The New York Times is scolding us mean 'ol Americans for hurting the Mexican economy. You heard that right, we are hurting them! The Times is mad at us because illegal Mexican immigrants are [1] sending fewer U.S. dollars from here in the states back home to Mexico. The Times is all about the gnashing of teeth and the wearing of sackcloth because our so-called "flagging American economy" and our mean spirited "enforcement campaign against illegal workers" is hurting Mexican families who have grown used to the bounty of U.S. dollars being sent home form their law breaking relatives in the states. Can you say "Oh, Boo Hoo?" The Times even continues to use their new euphemism for this illegal leaching of our money to a foreign nation, calling it "remittances" instead of theft like it should be called.

The Times tries to make Americans feel guilty by claiming that the fact that these "remittances" sent home are drying up means that these poor Mexicans can't pay for medicine and clothes.

For years, millions of Mexican migrants working in the United States have sent money back home to villages like this one, money that allows families to pay medical bills and school fees, build houses and buy clothes or, if they save enough, maybe start a tiny business.

But after years of strong increases, the amount of migrant money flowing to Mexico has stagnated. From 2000 to 2006, remittances grew to nearly $24 billion a year from $6.6 billion, rising more than 20 percent some years. In 2007, the increase so far has been less than 2 percent.

Yeah… as the old joke goes, "women and children hardest hit."

And what is causing this dip in "remittances?"

Migrants and migration experts say a flagging American economy and an enforcement campaign against illegal workers in the United States have persuaded some migrants not to try to cross the border illegally to look for work. Others have decided to return to Mexico. And many of those who are staying in the United States are sending less money home.

Somehow the fact that illegal immigrants are having trouble stealing our money and sending it off to some foreign land where it benefits no American does not make me all that weepy. The Times assures us, though, that "in Mexico, families are feeling squeezed."

… and where is the part where we should care about this, again?

The NY Times goes on to give us several pity party stories of illegals who had to return home "discouraged" because they found that our immigration laws were either being or were about to be enforced and that our economy is so bad — bad at lest according to the Times.

Now, the construction slump — along with a year-old crackdown on illegal immigration at the border and in the workplace, and mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in places — has made it even harder for Mexican migrants to reach the United States and land well-paying jobs.

Now, again, WHERE is the part where I should feel all weepy?

The Times gives us "enforcement first" advocates hope, not that they mean to do so.

But the events of the last year in the United States, political and economic, have also clouded the prospects of many illegal Mexican workers. New walls, new guards and new equipment at the border have dissuaded many from trying to cross and raised the cost for those who try to as much as $2,800. Workplace raids and stories of summary deportations stoke fears among Mexicans on both sides of the border.

Many of us have said for years that if we just enforce our own laws, many Mexicans will leave and many more won't come here in the first place. The Times inadvertently proves us right. The Times even quotes an illegal as saying, “It’s really tough to go back,â€

There is no sympathy for the displaced American workers and their families. American families (WOMEN AND CHILDREN) FIRST!

Originally Posted by zeezil

But in Mexico, families are feeling squeezed.

Boo hoo.
[quote]“One out of three people in these new states who was sending a year ago is not sending it home today,â€