By — Alexandra Hall Alexandra Hall Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pew-study-more-mexicans-leaving-u-s-than-coming-in Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pew study: More Mexicans leaving U.S. than coming in Politics Nov 19, 2015 6:26 PM EDT More Mexican immigrants are leaving the United States than coming in. According to a Pew research study published today, the desire to reunite with family back home — not economic or employment reasons — has motivated Mexican immigrant men and women to return to Mexico. The study also reports that an increasing amount see life in the United States as neither better nor worse than life in their home country. Citing research from both governments — including census data and a household survey — the study’s authors report that from 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexican immigrants left the U.S. for Mexico, while only 870,000 went in the opposite direction. Although there’s been an increase of Mexican immigrants who have been deported since 2005, in comparison to previous years, the report cites, the threat of deportation doesn’t seem to be the biggest motivation. According to Pew’s findings, a growing percentage of Mexican adults see life in the United States as no better than living in Mexico. Of those surveyed, 33 percent said life in the U.S. is neither better nor worse than life in the U.S. – 10 percent higher than eight years ago. Still, nearly half (48 percent) perceive that life is better in the U.S. than in their own country. Only 14 percent surveyed said it was worse. Until just a few years ago, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. (legally and illegally) had been on a steep incline for decades. From the 1970s to 2000, the number of Mexican immigrant men and women went up from less than 1 million to more than 9 million and in 2007, 12 million Mexican immigrants were living in the U.S. That year Pew data showed that the largest wave of immigration from a single country to the U.S. in history finally had stalled. An appeal’s court decision recently blocked a series of executive orders signed by President Obama in November 2014 that were designed to protect some 5 million undocumented immigrants from the immediate threat of deportation. Dealing with the flow of undocumented Latino immigrants into the United States has been a key issue of debate among democratic and republican presidential candidates vying for the nomination. However, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that immigrants from China — not Mexico or Central America — are the largest group that is currently immigrating to the United States. By — Alexandra Hall Alexandra Hall
More Mexican immigrants are leaving the United States than coming in. According to a Pew research study published today, the desire to reunite with family back home — not economic or employment reasons — has motivated Mexican immigrant men and women to return to Mexico. The study also reports that an increasing amount see life in the United States as neither better nor worse than life in their home country. Citing research from both governments — including census data and a household survey — the study’s authors report that from 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexican immigrants left the U.S. for Mexico, while only 870,000 went in the opposite direction. Although there’s been an increase of Mexican immigrants who have been deported since 2005, in comparison to previous years, the report cites, the threat of deportation doesn’t seem to be the biggest motivation. According to Pew’s findings, a growing percentage of Mexican adults see life in the United States as no better than living in Mexico. Of those surveyed, 33 percent said life in the U.S. is neither better nor worse than life in the U.S. – 10 percent higher than eight years ago. Still, nearly half (48 percent) perceive that life is better in the U.S. than in their own country. Only 14 percent surveyed said it was worse. Until just a few years ago, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. (legally and illegally) had been on a steep incline for decades. From the 1970s to 2000, the number of Mexican immigrant men and women went up from less than 1 million to more than 9 million and in 2007, 12 million Mexican immigrants were living in the U.S. That year Pew data showed that the largest wave of immigration from a single country to the U.S. in history finally had stalled. An appeal’s court decision recently blocked a series of executive orders signed by President Obama in November 2014 that were designed to protect some 5 million undocumented immigrants from the immediate threat of deportation. Dealing with the flow of undocumented Latino immigrants into the United States has been a key issue of debate among democratic and republican presidential candidates vying for the nomination. However, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that immigrants from China — not Mexico or Central America — are the largest group that is currently immigrating to the United States.