Immigration from Mexico in fast retreat, data show

[bemildred]

Source: LAT

North of the U.S.-Mexico border, Republican presidential candidates are talking tough on illegal immigration, with one proposing — perhaps in jest — an electrified fence to deter migrants.

But data from both sides of the border suggest that illegal immigration from Mexico is already in fast retreat, as U.S. job shortages, tighter border enforcement and the frightening presence of criminal gangs on the Mexican side dissuade many from making the trip.

Mexican census figures show that fewer Mexicans are setting out and many are returning — leaving net migration at close to zero, Mexican officials say. Arrests by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwestern frontier, a common gauge of how many people try to cross without papers, tumbled to 304,755 during the 11 months ended in August, extending a nearly steady drop since a peak of 1.6 million in 2000.

The scale of the fall has prompted some to suggest that a decades-long migration boom may be ending, even as others argue that the decline is only momentary.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-migration-20111115,0,6585941.story

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270 comments and counting ...

[alp227]

1. Those "illegal aliens get welfare" talking points are SO 2006. nt

[lbrtbell]

6. You've never applied for assistance, have you?

I've been applying for disability since the early 2000's (still no luck getting accepted), and so I see what's going on first-hand.

The way illegals get welfare is by giving birth to a child here, which makes him/her a citizen. Technically, the child gets the assistance, but how many babies are capable of using it? So who actually utilizes the food stamps, etc? Yes, the illegal parents.

And yes, it's still happening--it's not so 2006.

Before anybody gets their knickers in a twist, I'm NOT suggesting that a baby be denied benefits. I'm just saying that this is how illegals play the system to get welfare for their families.

It's rather amusing, how so many of them justified coming here illegally by saying we stole their land...yet, now that our job market is in the toilet, their interest in reclaiming "their" land is dwindling (see OP's post).

One more thing--I'm NOT anti-immigrant, I'm just pro legal immigration. Thousands of people come here legally, take the citizenship test, etc., and I welcome them whole-heartedly. I respect their dedication and love for this country. That is why I object to people who think it's justified to cut to the front of the line, ahead of the legal immigrants who worked so hard to come here legally. :(

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Stop referrring to people as "illegals."

Call them illegal immigrants,even illegal aliens, but not illegals. Don't remove their humanity.
Second, while you're in there applying for disability and getting denied, it may seem like it's because of those illegal immigrants having it so damn easy because they have American children, but that's not the reason you're being denied. Please stop blaming others who have received assistance for the system's failure to help you.

[alp227]

9. that's more an argument to end birthright citizenship

than to dismantle the welfare system. Furthermore, keep in mind that an illegal EMPLOYER may be playing a role here. Thanks for sharing, though.

[BadtotheboneBob]

13. Jus soli...

... is the Latin term (Right of the Soil) for automatic birthright citizenship. Only 20% of the world's nations recognize it, the vast majority in North and South America. Not one European nation allows it for illegal immigrants as it is done in the US and Canada.

[alp227]

14. and as a result there are GENERATIONS of stateless Euro-born people

such as the children of Turkish mid-20th century guest workers in Germany. See also Intl. Observatory of Statelessness.

[FarCenter]

18. Turks in Germany are citizens of Germany, Turkey or both, depending on the situation

Citizenship Further information: Nationality law

Under previous German law, children born to foreigners in Germany were not entitled to German citizenship by birth. This was modified in 1991 and in 2012 when German citizenship law recognised jus soli whereby people born in Germany were now automatically awarded citizenship.<99> In 2000, legislation was passed which conferred German citizenship on the German-born children of foreigners (born after 1990), and the naturalisation process was made easier, although dual citizenship is only permitted to citizens of the EU and Switzerland and any other national possessing it (including citizens of Turkey) by virtue of birth must choose between the ages of 18 and 23 which citizenship she or he wishes to retain, and renounce their other passport.<100> If one parent is German, a dual citizen is not required to give up the German citizenship if they keep the other citizenship. These strict limits on dual citizenship are criticised by liberal parties in Germany and institutions which promote German-Turkish relations.

[iverglas]

20. there are historical reasons for this of course

North and South American countries are countries of immigration. There was no "citizenship" here when the Europeans arrived. It wasn't until much later, once colonies became independent states, that citizenship was an issue; colonists were citizens of the mother country. Of course the Europeans regarded any of their own born in the Americas as a citizen of the American country they lived in once such a thing existed. None of your Founding Fathers was a citizen of the US at the time the US came into being, but their descendants born afterward were. As immigrants continued to arrive and settle permanently, in countries built on immigration and until recently eager to receive immigrants, of course their children were regarded as citizens; they were wanted here. It wasn't some great humanitarian upswelling of compassion.

Europe, on the other hand, is composed of countries of emigration -- the countries the Europeans came to North and South America from. European countries had simply retained the system as it always was, citizenship dependent on parentage (actually, paternity). The non-application of jus soli in Europe can hardly be regarded as originating in some European conspiracy to deny temporary residents' children citizenship; the situation was just the product of history. It very arguably does not meet the needs of the modern world in which migration is a major feature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

The geographer Jared Diamond has calculated that if the application of jus soli since 1850 were abolished, 60% of Americans and 80% of Argentinians would lose their citizenship, and 25% of British and French.

The US, by the way, is the only signficant country that allows its citizens to become stateless by renouncing citizenship. And there are indeed stateless USAmericans floating around; I had one as a client years ago. The situation creates problems for other nations if a stateless former US citizen happens to get in (which wasn't difficult coming to Canada from the US), since the US does not recognize any obligation to take them back.

[No Elephants]

10. Applying for disability does NOT give you first hand information about what is going on.

And don't refer to anyone as "illegals."

[Atypical Liberal]

12. Just come here "legally"

Why not just say that if you have a job you're legal?

[ehrnst]

15. Assistance is easier for those with children - whether the parents are citizens or not.

As for calling them illegals, do you refer to yourself as an "illegal driver" if your tags are a few days expired, or you're going 32 in a 30mph zone.

[supernova]

16. You need an atty specializing in getting SSDI

for you if you don't already have one. Most people are turned down as a matter of habit when they first apply. It's a pernicious way of "means-testing" everyone who applies.

[Nihil]

21. You're impervious to irony aren't you?

> I've been applying for disability since the early 2000's
> (still no luck getting accepted)

Maybe, in your decade of experience, it should have crossed your mind
that you also aren't "justified to cut to the front of the line" ...

:eyes:

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Well, I hope this makes the anti-immigration xenophobes happy

All the efforts on the part of ICE, border patrol, gun-crazy vigilantes & those who proposed everything from two electric fences to an alligator-filled moat were for naught. Who woulda thunk that all it took was to wreck the US economy to keep the 'brown menace' at bay?

In case it's needed: :sarcasm:

[sharp_stick]

3. I think it's mostly economics driving this

as long as nobody has the cash to hire the migrants they won't be coming across the border.

[krabigirl]

4. Yep.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. As if the corporations that hire most migrants don't have $20 trillion.

[wandago]

7. Things are finally getting as bad in the US as they are in Mexico.

At least for low end workers. That's what this means.

[No Elephants]

11. Our economy stinks, states are passing "present your papers" laws,

vigilantes abound and a candidate for the Presidency threatens electrocution by fence.

I can't imagine what is keeping them away.

Meanwhile, farm owners/managers are letting food rot rather than pay anyone a reasonable price for picking it.

[pampango]

17. NYT (7/6/11): Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/06/world/americas/immigration.html?hp

The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the United States over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle, and research points to a surprising cause: unheralded changes in Mexico that have made staying home more attractive.

A growing body of evidence suggests that a mix of developments — expanding economic and educational opportunities, rising border crime and shrinking families — are suppressing illegal traffic as much as economic slowdowns or immigrant crackdowns in the United States.

Douglas S. Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton, an extensive, long-term survey in Mexican emigration hubs, said his research showed that interest in heading to the United States for the first time had fallen to its lowest level since at least the 1950s. “No one wants to hear it, but the flow has already stopped,” Mr. Massey said, referring to illegal traffic. “For the first time in 60 years, the net traffic has gone to zero and is probably a little bit negative.”

Crossing “mojado,” wet or illegally, has become more expensive and more dangerous, particularly with drug cartels dominating the border. At the same time, educational and employment opportunities have greatly expanded in Mexico. Per capita gross domestic product and family income have each jumped more than 45 percent since 2000, according to one prominent economist, Roberto Newell. Despite all the depictions of Mexico as “nearly a failed state,” he argued, “the conventional wisdom is wrong.”

[rayofreason]

19. "Last of the Meheecans" Southpark strikes again n/t.

[astral]

22. It's not just Mexicans who come through the Mexico / US border

and there is traffic along the northern border too, but with our economy tanking and our jobs disappearing overseas, things are not as nice here as they were, are they?

It might still be easier for illegal immigrants to make a new start here than it is for homeless people already living here.