Report: Illegal Immigration back on the rise
A new report from the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California finds that illegal migration from Mexico to the United States is back on the rise after a decline during the economic recession that started in 2008. The Institute based its conclusion on six indicators including flows across the southwest border, repatriations, demography, remittances, employment levels of illegal aliens, and enforcement actions.
The report concluded that not only is illegal immigration on the rise, but the number of illegal aliens leaving the United States is decreasing.
"The result is that the size of the Mexican-born population in the United States has fully recovered from losses experienced during the recession. Meanwhile, unemployment among those migrants has decreased and labor force participation rates have held steady—a post-recession economic performance slightly better than for U.S. native-born workers. Another sign of recovery comes from an increased flow of remittances to Mexico," the report written by Roberto Suro and Rene Zenteno said.
The report says that multiple factors that could contribute to an increase in illegal immigration existed in early-2012. Despite increased immigration enforcement efforts and high unemployment, the demand for cheap illegal-alien labor is slowly returning to the U.S. labor market. This demand has caused the net migration from Mexico to increase after reaching net-zero over the last few years.
"Given the available indicators as of mid-2012, it appears that even a relatively small increase in the demand for Mexican labor in the U.S. economy would prompt a positive response in the migration flows despite intensified enforcement efforts by the federal government, several states, and some local governments," the report said.
To see the full report, see MigrationMonitor.com.