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.

GOP Congressman Says Soleimani Family Was ‘Dressed Like a Bunch of Hookers’ While Living It Up in US

Poll: Fewer Than 4 in 10 Republicans Say NATO Benefits the U.S.

Democrat swing candidate called Biden’s border handling ‘a huge misstep’ after backing his approach as mayor

ICE involved in shooting after agency says illegal immigrant gang member tried to ram officer

Blanche invokes Trump ‘love’ when asked about staying on after Bondi

Massachusetts mom offers to admit killing 3 children as prosecutors push back on move that could dodge prison

Blanche rolls out fraud crackdown in first remarks since Bondi ouster

Trump Iran threat sparks calls for his ouster, but one Dem says effort ‘not realistic’

Report: ‘Positive’ Development in US-Iran Talks as Clock Ticks Toward Deadline

Trump’s threat to end Iranian ‘civilization’ sparks uproar on Capitol Hill

Trump DOJ Says Not So Fast as Mamdani Announces ‘Racial Equity Plan’

Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed to replace Stephen Colbert on CBS next month

Trump calls into Vance-Orban Hungary event: ‘My kind of people’

Ex-Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene joins left-wing calls for the 25th amendment as Iran deadline nears

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Floats New Tactic for Cracking Down on Sanctuary Cities

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.