Migration from Mexico slows, reasons unclear

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The timing of Pew Hispanic Center’s report saying Mexican migration to the U.S. had leveled off or reversed course ensured that it would get prominent play April 23 and 24.
Coming just two days before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona v. United States over that state’s law cracking down on undocumented immigrants in the state, the report was cited widely in stories providing context for the supposed effect of such laws.
But while the 42-page Pew Hispanic report points to a clear shift in migration patterns for Mexicans, its discussion of the possible causes for that change is far less clear.
Fewer Mexicans are entering the U.S. — down by about half, from 3 million to 1.4 million — and more are returning to their homeland — nearly doubling in the five-year period of 2005-2010 to almost 1.4 million, from 667,000 the previous five years, the study reported.
Groups working in the municipalities abandoned by Mexican migrants called for a nuanced reading of the data and cautioned against concluding that outward migration had collapsed or that the trend would not be reversed.
“Without doubt, immigration has gone down a little, but that doesn’t mean it’s now collapsed,” said Scalabrini Sister Leticia Gutierrez, director of the Mexican bishops’ human mobility ministry.