Mexican immigration to U.S. down to lowest level in years

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Mexican immigration to the United States has slowed to a trickle, according to the Mexican government. Migration from Mexico peaked in 2006 or 2007, when roughly one percent of the population left the country each year. Today, the number is around one third of one percent per year, says Mexico.

From The Washington Post:

Mexico’s net outflow of migrants has fallen to “almost nothing,” as fewer migrants entered Mexico, but the number leaving dropped even faster, the government’s statistical unit said Monday.

A report by the National Statistics Institute says Mexico lost about 0.09 percent of its population to migration as reflected in quarterly surveys carried out between March 2010 and March 2011.

That was 83 percent lower than the outflow of 0.53 percent of the population in 2006 and early 2007, near the end of Mexico’s migration boom.

“In the first quarter of 2011, there was practically no net loss of population due to international migration,” the institute said. “As a result, in relative terms the net migration balance was almost nothing.”

About 0.38 percent of the country’s 112.7 million people migrated abroad in the most recent period studied, while about 0.29 percent immigrated to Mexico.

Newsweek reported more than a year ago that immigration from Mexico to the U.S. was falling fast due to changing demographics in Mexico as well as an economic situation in Mexico that was enabling more people to find work. The magazine predicted that it will not be long before the United States is crafting policies to increase immigration to the country.

Dee Dee Garcia Blase, executive director of Somos Republicans, a national organization representing Latino Republicans, told The Colorado Independent that the change has a lot to do with the relative economic strengths of Mexico and the U.S.

“The economic situation of both Mexico and the United States has much to do with Mexico’s outflow falling to ‘almost nothing,'” she said.

“According to Bloomberg, the Mexican economy expanded 5.5% in 2010 which was the most in 10 years, whereas, the 2010 GDP of the U.S. was at 2.8%. GDP growth for Mexico is expected to reach 4.5% for 2011.

“U.S. baby boomers are choosing to retire in Mexico because the cost of living is less and medication/health care is less expensive.

“The protectionist laws implemented by restrictionist GOP legislators are having a direct negative impact with much needed migration to support our agricultural industry and it goes against pro growth, pro small business ideas. Immigrants are the new taxpayers that will sustain the American economy and at some point we will be competing with Mexico for that population we will need.

“We need more immigrants as we go from 35 million baby boomers to approximately 70 million baby boomers in about 20 years. The aging population and their entitlements will exhaust all federal revenues in approximately 12 years if we do not legalize immigrants (the new taxpayers) and fix the broken immigration system that can help support our aging population and their entitlements they worked for,” she said by email Tuesday.

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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