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.

Any ‘Iran Deal’ Must Include Justice for American Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism

Liberal Donors, Corporate Interests Conspire to Help Left-Leaning Republicans in Deep Red Wyoming

White House unloads on violent ‘criminal alien’ nabbed after investigators uncover election offense

What does ‘Never Forget’ mean for a generation with no memory of 9/11?

If the US cuts funding to Israel, could Jordan and Egypt be next?

Have the Left and Right switched places on globalization and consumerism?

PBS’s ‘Marble Hall Murders’ features lovely locales, artful acting, and transfixing twists

‘Disgusting Excuse for a Journalist’: NBC Boston Ripped to Shreds Over Hit Piece on Clancy Holdout Juror

We Didn’t Get This Angry Because Americans Changed: We Got This Angry Because Washington Did

Fox News Legal Analyst Jonathan Turley Thoroughly Dismantles Lindsay Clancy’s Attorney After Debate Challenge

The Constitution Was Made for a Moral People: It’s Time to Teach Our Kids That Lesson

Obama Operative Turned Trump Voter Exposes the Anti-Working-Class Bigotry That Destroyed the Democrats

Fox News Stars Mourn the Brutal Murder of a Beloved ‘Fan Who Became a Friend’

Illegal Alien Released by Biden Admin Arrested After Allegedly Executing California Woman in Public

El-Sayed ignites firestorm after sharing 9/11 message on social media: ‘Piece of s—‘

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.