(Newswire.net — January 22, 2017) — A new study finds more Mexican immigrants leaving than coming to the United States.
According to a study published Thursday, the largest wave of mass migration in American history, the era of immigration from Mexico is “at an end”, Pew Research Center reports.
Reportedly, the migration from Mexico to the U.S. was consistent since 1970s.
The number of Mexicans in pursuit of the American dream has decreased dramatically for the first time in the last 50 years. Illegal crossings of the Mexico-U.S. border have been significantly reduced amid stepped-up border measures which were introduced by the Obama administration.
“We know that crossings are definitely down and we also know it is much more difficult and costly to cross now than it used to be,” said Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, a Pew research associate and author of the report.
According to the PEW report, from 2009 to 2014, slightly more than a million Mexicans and their families returned to live in Mexico. That includes children younger than 5 who gained the U.S. citizenship upon their birth in the U.S.
Mexican migration is definitely in a new phase, according to Ms. Gonzalez-Barrera, and “it will not return to the levels it once had.”
The lowest rate of migration was recorded last year when the official statistics dropped to 230,000 illegal crossings.
Mexicans are still the largest group among undocumented immigrants. However, the recorded decline dropped from 6.9 million in 2007 to 5.6 million last year.
According to the report, last year, six in ten undocumented Mexicans chose to leave the United States “of their own accord.”
Although more than 15 million Mexicans migrated to the United States in the past 50 years, subsequent analysis will determine whether China has become the leading immigrant country.