New Info: Trends Are Changing in MX Migration to the US

Some surprising new facts appeared in the news last week.

Regarding how many Mexicans are coming to the US:

The number of Mexican immigrants entering the US has fallen sharply. It has hit a 10-year low (in the 12 months ending in March 2009).

Regarding how many are here:

A third of all foreign-born US residents and two-thirds of Hispanic immigrants to the United States come from Mexico.

Nearly everyone who leaves Mexico heads for the United States.

The US is currently home to one in 10 people who were born in Mexico.

Regarding how many illegal entries are caught:

2008 saw the lowest number of apprehensions of would-be illegal immigrants from Mexico by the US border patrol in 25 years.

Regarding Hispanics who die on the job:

The number of Hispanic workers who die on the job in the US has risen by 76 percent (since 1992), although the nation’s total number of on-the-job deaths is on the decline.

Regarding the economic downturn’s affect:

While traditionally Mexicans living here send money back home, reports are surfacing on the Border of the reverse. Some Mexicans are sending money to support their relatives in the United States due to the economic crisis north of the border.

Latinos, especially immigrants, are suffering a disproportionate share of the joblessness that is officially rising to engulf close to 10 percent of the overall US population.

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New study: U.S. Border Enforcement Keeps Illegal Aliens Here!

The Department of Homeland Security reported their numbers last month. They haven’t apprehended so few illegal aliens since 1973. One wonders: Why is that?
Is it the U.S. economic downturn? Or could it be beefed-up enforcement efforts?
New data from a research team led by Wayne Cornelius, Director of Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego indicates that our strengthened border enforcement may be producing some unintended consequences
According to info they gleaned from thousands of interviews with migrants and prospective migrants, it seems it’s the downturn of the U.S. job market along with the high personal and financial costs of migration that’s slowing the rate of undocumented migration from Mexico.

But, at the same time, the undocumented immigrants who are already here are staying put. They want to avoid the great expense and physical risks of being smuggled back into the United States should they leave to go back home. They fear losing their U.S. jobs. And, besides that, there just aren’t many economic opportunities to return to in Mexico.

The ironic reality that the data reveals is that enhanced border security has created “reduced circularity in migration.” We’ve essentially locked illegal migrants into the United States because the prospect of going home and returning later has gotten too expensive and dangerous.

The main reason undocumented migration from Mexico has lessened, according to Cornelius´ research, is that there are fewer jobs available in the United States. Decreased numbers of illegal entrance apprehensions is not because they can’t get in. Migrants attempting to enter the US illegally may be caught on their first attempt at crossing the border; however, they have an almost 100% chance of eventual success if they continue to try.

Apparently, the most profound impact that border enforcement has had on migrants in the past decade has been “reduced circularity in migration (less return migration).” Or, simply put: it looks like border enforcement is more successful at keeping undocumented immigrants in the United States than it is at deterring them from coming.
For further information: KEEPING MIGRANTS HERE: Recent Research Shows Unintended Consequences of U.S. Border Enforcement

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Volunteer/Humanitarian Convicted of Littering while “trying to save lives”

Walt Staton labels water to be left for migrants.

Web-designer Walt Staton, 27, a volunteer with a Tucson AZ humanitarian aid group, routinely places sealed jugs of drinking water in the Arizona desert at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, in the paths undocumented migrants use as they to attempt to enter the US. For that, he was convicted this month of littering. This criminal misdemeanor carries a punishment of up to one year of in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to information provided by the group he assists called, appropriately enough: No More Deaths.

In the brutal Arizona desert south of Tucson, summer temperatures regularly top 110 degrees. Shade is scarce. Every year literally hundreds of undocumented migrants die trying to walk north from Mexico through this merciless environment. It is virtually impossible to carry sufficient water. No More Deaths’ website reports 79 migrant deaths in the southern desert already this year, with 20 bodies of deceased migrants recovered from Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge alone since 2002. For the past five Staton has attempted to alleviate migrant misery by providing them with food, medical care, and–most importantly–emergency water.

“I was just trying to save lives,” Staton stated. “I was trying to end the death and suffering in the desert. The best we can understand, the United States wants to enforce the border by making the desert itself a deterrent.”

His defense lawyer Bill Walker held a full gallon jug of water high during closing arguments and declared: “When the government tells you this case isn’t about water or this isn’t about saving lives, they’re wrong! This is valuable, life-sustaining water.”

In December Fish and Wildlife Service officers cited Staton and three other volunteers, against whom charges were later dismissed, after Border Patrol officers tracked them in a helicopter. Officers confiscated eight jugs of water that they had positioned for migrants, and then seized an additional six gallons from the group’s vehicle. The group of volunteers was carrying out empty water jugs and other trash at the time of the citation.

Staton’s sentencing is set for August 11; he plans to appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit. Staton, unrepentant, says he will continue to leave out water for illegal immigrants walking through the desert, even if that means risking further citations. And No More Deaths has not given any indication that they’ll change their motto:

“Humanitarian aid is never a crime.”

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