Mexican emigration to U.S. increases
Mexico City, Mexico, December 16, 2002 (EFE)- The number of emigrants from Mexico to the United States has increased since August of this year to a level higher than that prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officials announced Monday.
According to figures from the Mexican Migration Institute (INM), the increase in the flow of emigrants is reflected in the increased levels of deportation of undocumented Mexicans from the United States since last August. The number of Mexicans who were deported between January and November of this year was 543,265.
Although this figure is 29.4 percent lower than the number registered for the same period during 2001 - 770,008 - between August and November of this year the number of deportations were greater that during the same period in 2001, according to the INM.
Meanwhile, the daily Reforma on Monday reported that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) intercepted 61,792 Mexican immigrants at the border, a 61 percent increase from October 2001.
Both Mexico and the United States use the numbers of arrests and deportations as indicators of the overall flow of immigrants between the countries.
According to a recent report by the National Population Council, some 8.3 million Mexicans currently live in the United States, three million of whom are illegal immigrants. Mexicans account for 3 percent of the total U.S. population. EFE
