Money Sent Home

According to an article in the New York Times, after years of strong increases, the amount of money Mexican migrants in America are sending back home has stagnated. Between 2000 and 2006, the amount of money increased from $6.6 billion to $24 billion. So far in 2007 the increase has been less than two percent. The money sent home allows the migrants’ families to pay medical bills and school fees, start small businesses, build houses, and buy clothes and food. Recently, the flagging economy and an enforcement campaign against illegal workers have deterred many migrants from crossing the border illegally in search of work. Many of those in the United States are sending less money back home.
While families in Mexico are feeling squeezed, in the rest of the world remittances are rising up to as much as ten percent a year. Last year migrant workers sent more than $300 billion to families in developing workers. This is nearly twice as much as foreign direct investment.
Today, many migrants who work in the United States have returned home discouraged. The crack down on illegal immigration at the border and in the workplace, along with the construction slump and anti-immigrant sentiments, has made it harder for Mexican migrants to cross into the United States and find work.
I believe that poverty is at the core of immigration. It is one of the main factors pushing immigrants to cross U.S. borders. It fills me with anger when I hear people make anti-immigrant remarks without attempting to understand what would drive a person to cross into the U.S. illegally. Immigration levels will not decease until the problem of poverty is correctly addressed.