More Mexican Immigrants Leaving U.S. than Entering … and Most are Leaving Voluntarily

The flow of immigrants between the United States and Mexico was largely a south to north pattern over the past 50 years. But the Great Recession and weak recovery has caused a reversal in the U.S.-Mexico immigration relationship, with more heading south than traveling north.

The Pew Research Center says more Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the U.S. than have migrated here since the start of the economic recovery. Pew researchers also found that most of those returning to Mexico have done so voluntarily, and that only 14% were deported.

Pew study author Ana Gonzalez-Barrera also acknowledged that “measuring migration flows between Mexico and the U.S. is challenging because there are no official counts of how many Mexican immigrants enter and leave the U.S. each year.”

The reversal of the migration flow is something “we haven’t seen…since the 1930s,” Gonzalez-Barrera told the Los Angeles Times.

As to the underlying reasons for the results of the Pew study, she concluded, “I would not say that Mexico has more of a pull. But the United States isn't as attractive.”