Reuters: Mexicans Aren’t Leaving, In Spite Of Crisis

By Brenda Walker

10/17/2009

Furthermore the "crackdown" they face from the Obama administration exists in the complaints of open-borders extremists only.

Many Mexican migrants stay put in U.S. despite crisis

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) — Mexican workers in the United States have lost jobs and faced a crackdown on illegal immigration but are not heading home in droves despite the worst recession in decades, officials and researchers say.

There is no record of those leaving the United States by land but anecdotal reports suggest some families have packed their belongings into trucks and crossed back into Mexico as construction, food and as farm jobs have evaporated.

A record 12.7 million Mexican immigrants lived and worked in the United States in 2008, more than half of them illegally, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The vast majority have chosen to stay and weather the crisis. Rights groups say Washington needs to pass an overhaul of immigration policies because Mexicans are not going home.

"There is no evidence of a massive return," said Adriana Valdes at the Mexican consulate in Denver. "People may move because of the crisis, but they are not moving to Mexico where the situation is no better."

Mexico has also suffered its worst recession since the 1930s and illegal Mexican workers living and working in the shadows say they can still earn more in the United States.

"If things are bad here, they're worse in our country," said Christian Dominguez, 21, who has worked in Phoenix since crossing illegally to Arizona 15 months ago from Mexico.

Dominguez earns just $80 in a bad week, shares an apartment with seven other migrants and relies on food donations from local church groups to get by. But he says it is still better than in his home state of Chiapas in southern Mexico

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