WASHINGTON — Apparently deterred by rising unemployment in the U.S., the number of Mexican immigrants who crossed the border dropped sharply in the past year to the lowest level in a decade, even as undocumented workers already here are opting to stay. The analysis of census data from the U.S. and Mexican governments, being released today by the Pew Hispanic Center, highlights the impact of the economic downturn on Mexican immigrants.
The study found that the number of immigrants arriving from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year. As a result, the annual inflow of immigrants is now 175,000, having steadily decreased from a peak of 653,000 in 2005, before the bursting of the housing bubble dried up construction and other low-wage jobs.
The total population of Mexican-born immigrants in the U.S. also edged lower in the past year, from 11.6 million to 11.5 million, according to the study by Pew, an independent research group. Up to 85 percent of those immigrants are thought to be in the country illegally.
Still, immigrants already in the U.S. are opting not to return to Mexico because many of them are betting the economy will improve as well as perhaps hoping that immigration reform could soon pave the way for U.S. citizenship, said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at Pew who co-authored the study.
According to the data, the level of Mexican migrants who return home from the U.S. and other countries each year — about 450,000 — has remained largely unchanged.
Among Pew's other findings:
• In 2008, the number of Mexicans apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol — 662,000 — was 40 percent below the peak of 1.1 million in 2004, reflecting in part the decline in the number of new immigrants arriving into the U.S.
• Mexico is by far the origin of most U.S. immigrants, accounting for one-third of foreign-born residents and two-thirds of Hispanic immigrants.
• The total number of apprehensions by the Border Patrol in 2008 — 724,000 — was at the lowest level since 1973.
The findings come as the Obama administration has pledged to take up immigration law this year.