A Decline in American Money Leaking to Mexico

The great United States has afforded opportunities for nearly every national origin and ethnic group in the past 100 years. Many of the immigrants that have come here find lucrative jobs they wouldn't have been able to find in their own country. They use this money not only for their own living expenses but also to support their families overseas. The amount of money leaving the country is in the billions of dollars.

Problems arise because much of this money could have been used to purchase products and services from businesses in the United States. Therefore the money sent overseas is used to spark the economies of other nations instead of sparking growth in the U.S. For example, Mexico receives 11.4 billion dollars in money sent from Hispanic families in the U.S. (Central Bank of Mexico). That is a huge amount of money that could have supported tens of thousands of U.S. workers.

The amount of money sent to Mexico from U.S. workers has increased 10% every year due to the growing Hispanic population in this country. In previous years 80% of immigrants with new statuses in the U.S. were engaged in sending money to Mexico. The new crack down on illegal immigrants is slowing the amount of money moving over the border. Illegal immigrants are afraid they will get caught and are having a difficult time finding jobs.

States with the highest Hispanic populations have passed nearly 40 laws in an effort to restrict illegal immigration, employers who hire illegal immigrants and apartments who board them. Due to these laws the amount of money sent overseas has reduced the percentage from 80 down to 56. The illegal immigration laws are having an effect on employability of illegal immigrants as well as the amount of money leaving the country.

If you don't believe illegal immigration is a problem consider that the study found that 50% of all Hispanics polled were illegal immigrants. That is a huge number considering there are 37 million Hispanics in the country. It is difficult to gauge precisely how many are illegal because they are documented but even if it is 25% that number would be around 9.25 million people.

The debate between a liberal immigration policy and one that comes down hard on illegal immigrants is raging throughout the country. The amount of money being sent overseas, which is estimated to support 2 million Mexican families in Mexico, is another component to this debate. However, the crackdown on illegal immigrants has had a significant impact.