Immigration Law

Will Illegal Immigration Situation Solve Itself?

By Robert Kraft

An article in the Dallas Morning News points out that more and more illegal immigrants are returning to their home countries because of the worsening U.S. economy. The jobs are not as plentiful and the pay is not as good as a couple of years ago. Of course increased enforcement of workplace immigration laws has contributed to the exodus, as has a growing sense among immigrants that U.S. immigration law reform is not going to happen anytime soon. Here are excerpts from the article:

According to Mexican consulate officials in Dallas, some 400 immigrant families have told them so far this year that they're going back to Mexico and asked for transfer documents to enroll their children in Mexican schools.

Enrique Hubbard Urrea, Mexican consul general in Dallas, said it is impossible to track every Mexican who leaves the area. But he said the number asking for transfer documents at the consulate is on the rise.

In 2005, the consulate issued 162 such documents; in 2006 it was 199; and last year it was 270. At the current rate, more than twice as many people will leave this year as last, he said.

"There is no doubt the trend indicates that the number is growing," Mr. Hubbard said.

And it isn't happening only in Dallas. At the Mexican consulates in Chicago and Phoenix, too, the number of Mexican families applying for transfer documents for their children has increased.

According to informal surveys by the Mexican consulate in Dallas, most of those wanting to return to Mexico cite the sudden scarcity of jobs, fear of deportation and uncertainty about obtaining legal resident status any time soon.

 Mark López, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said he has no reliable data about the number of immigrants returning to Mexico but is not surprised many are going.

"Lower-income people – obviously including immigrants – have been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn," he said.

Two weeks ago, the Pew center said the unemployment rate among Hispanic immigrants reached 7.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008, compared with 5.5 percent during the same quarter of last year.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).