Less money sent to Mexico

Houston Chronicle:

The amount of money sent home monthly by Mexicans living in the United States dropped to its lowest level on record in August, Mexico's central bank reported Wednesday.

The report fed expectations that the U.S. economic turmoil will spill south of the border, in part because the incomes of legal and illegal immigrants will be squeezed. Remittances trail only oil in providing foreign income to Mexico. The country's oil income has been dropping as prices and production decline.

"The prolonged slowdown of U.S. economic activity has adversely impacted employment opportunities in that country and consequently those of Mexican migrants," the Banco de Mexico said in its report.

Mexicans sent home $1.9 billion in August, a more than 12 percent drop compared with the same month last year. Overall, remittances dropped a little more than 4 percent in the January-August period compared with the same eight months in 2007.

...

One in five Mexican immigrant workers labors in construction, while more than half work in service industries such as restaurants, hotels and gardening, the bank estimates.

Mexican immigrant workers send an average of about $350 a month home to family members, the Banco de Mexico said.

Other experts say the drop in remittances might have more to do with the heightened immigration enforcement along the border.

...

It is probably a combination of the downturn and the stiffer enforcement of immigration laws. I take issue with the lead in this article since I am sure there were years where there is no record of money sent to Mexico. It probably is the lowest in recent years.

When you consider the increased enforcement on the border and in several states it has to have had a dramatic impact on immigration and more importantly the self deportation process.

The Washington Post reports that illegal immigration has now fallen below legal immigration into the US.