A weak job market, an economy struggling to recover plus tougher enforcement of illegal immigration laws all have combined to effect a drop in the number of illegal migrants entering the country. According to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center, illegal Mexican aliens saw a large drop during the period 2007-2009.
The Pew report revealed that the annual number of illegal Mexican aliens dropped to 150,000 during the period 2007 to 2009. During the first half of the decade, that number average 500,000 per year. Illegal immigration numbers show that 60 percent of illegal aliens are Mexicans.
The report revealed that an average of 850,000 people entered the United States illegally during the first five years of the decade. As the economy became weakened by recession, illegal immigration numbers fell to 300,000.
In a Wall Street Journal report, experts are quoted as saying that business cycle is the major cause of the drop in illegal immigration. Wayne Cornelius, co-director of the migration research center at the University of California, San Diego, told the Journal, “The intensity of U.S. border enforcement has continued to increase during the recession, but only gradually,” he said. “What has changed drastically is the demand for Mexican labor in the U.S. economy.”
The Pew report also mentioned that the largest declines in illegal immigration numbers were noted in Virginia, Florida and Nevada. According to an article by the Washington Post, experts think that the decline in Florida and Nevada were due to the housing crisis and the accompanying loss of thousands of construction jobs. Florida’s illegal aliens fell by 375,000, while that of Nevada’s decreased by 50,000 during the 2007-2009 period. Virginia’s illegal immigrants, meanwhile, fell by 65,000. That decline is attributed to the economy and stricter illegal immigration laws, the Post reported.
Lesser number of employment opportunities is also credited in the drop of illegal immigrant workers. The unemployment rate for unauthorized immigrants is estimated at 10.4 percent, the Pew report revealed. That number is higher than that of either U.S.-born residents or legal immigrants.
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You know the job markets bad when the mexicans are leaving to go back to their home land .