Mexican Migrants Sent Record $36B In Remittances In 2019

Instability in Mexico and Latin America drove a wave of migrant workers to send a record amount of remittances to their home countries in 2019. Mexico’s Central Bank reported that Mexican migrants working overseas sent home a record-high $36 billion in remittances in 2019, a 7 percent increase from 2018.

According to a study from the Inter-American Dialogue, between 2016 and 2017, remittances to Mexico increased by 12 percent, a sharp rise from previous years.

States with the largest population of Mexican-born immigrants rank highest in remittance transfers. The states with the highest transfers include California ($8.84 billion), Texas ($4.3 billion), Illinois ($1.4 billion), New York ($1.8 billion), Florida ($1.15 billion), and Georgia ($1.0 billion). California accounted for nearly 29 percent of the total remittances to Mexico from 2014 to 2017. During this same time period, the percentage of the Mexican-born population in the U.S. dropped slightly by 1.3 percent while remittances spiked to nearly 8 percent.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Mexico transitioned from a closed economy to a market-oriented economy. Mexico further accelerated its market-based economy by entering into the NAFTA agreement in 1994 and exports became a major source of revenue. Still, Mexico is highly dependent on the United States for exports and remittances. Remittances replaced oil exports as Mexico’s largest source of foreign exchange, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

WATCH: GOP senator unloads on ‘creature of Washington’ challenger in critical Senate showdown

Historian blasts Smithsonian’s activism shift after first visit in over a decade: ‘Completely different place’

Midterm Countdown: Republicans get a glimmer of hope

Washington man arrested on arson charge tied to devastating Spokane wildfire

Pennsylvania school bus aide accused of sexually assaulting special needs teen

Federal judge blocks New York law banning ICE agents from wearing masks

California mom begged for help before ex gunned her down in front of their 4-year-old son: DA

ICE detainee who illegally re-entered US after deportation dies at Delaney Hall

Unearthed video exposes El-Sayed’s opinion on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants

Watch: New Women’s Pro Baseball League Begins With ‘Worst Anthem Rendition of All Time’

‘The Brink of War’ tells story of Reagan-Gorbachev nuclear discussions

Knoxville Mayor Shares Chilling 2020 Talk When Deborah Birx Admitted the Truth Didn’t Matter When It Came to the Science

Mass Cyclospora Outbreak Officially Turns Deadly

Watch: Trump Goes Off When Reporter Says He’s With ‘MSNOW’

Watch: 4 of the Most Intense Exchanges When RFK Jr. Put CNN’s Dana Bash in Her Place on COVID and Fauci

From foreign tourism, Mexico receives about $25 billion while only $22.4 billion in annual petroleum exports.

Mexico’s poverty rate remains high despite its openness to the international economic system. The poverty rate stands at 41.9 percent as of 2018 according to the International Monetary Fund. People working in the subsistence farming or informal sector of the economy are among Mexico’s poorest citizens and are especially reliant on remittances from the U.S. to pay for basic essential needs.

Remittance flows could remain high with Mexico’s economy projected to remain sluggish. The International Monetary Fund predicts meager economic growth for Mexico at 1 percent in 2020. Mexico’s 2019 third-quarter growth remained stagnant as well.

The rise in remittances from the United States to Mexico is happening alongside an overall downside trajectory in immigration from Mexican migrants to the U.S.

Across the wider Latin America region, remittances grew by 4.7 percent in 2019, according to a study published by Manuel Orozco, director of the Migration, Remittances, and Development Program at the Inter-American Dialogue.