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The number of people migrating to the United States from Mexico has dropped substantially in the last few years, a new study revealed Wednesday.
Demographics experts of the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) and the University of New Hampshire said migration to the United States across the Mexican border peaked in 2003. But, it has since dropped by over 55 percent.
Between 2008 and 2012, about 820,000 people crossed the Mexican border into the United States, while between 2003 and 2007, 1.9 million migrants entered U.S. territory both legally and illegally, according to the study.
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The lead author of the report, Rogelio Saenz of the UTSA, explained that the decrease in migration is due to the drop in construction jobs in the U.S., which was caused by the recession in the United States.
He added that migration also diminished because of the expansion of the Mexican economy and a fall in births in Mexico.
“In the 1960s and 1970s, the average Mexican woman gave birth to seven children. This created a very young population in Mexico as 35 percent was under 15 years of age,” Saenz said.
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The expert said that youth in the 1980s and 1990s were so numerous there weren't enough jobs for them, so they were forced to migrate.
Today, he said, the rate of births is equivalent to that of the U.S.
"Mexico no longer has that excess of labor force,” said Saenz.
According to Saenz, Mexican migrants have more resources that enable them to become eligible for U.S. special work visas.
He also said that today most Mexicans do not migrate to the U.S. for reasons of employment, but rather to flee rampant violence and crime in Mexico.
The United States has an undocumented population of about 12 million, who are mostly from Mexico and Central America.
Recently, U.S. Border Patrol statistics revealed that although authorities expect migrant child and family apprehensions to fall in 2015, they will still exceed 2013.
The statistics predicted that in 2015 the migration of family members would increase by 80 percent from 2014. Officials believe that 10,300 Mexican family members will be arrested by the end of this year.
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