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.

Sheriff running Nancy Guthrie case responds after report reveals unseemly exit from first policing job

Three cargo ships damaged by ‘projectiles’ in Strait of Hormuz

Texas conservatives tout record-breaking school choice signups after long battle with teachers unions

Scott moves to bypass teachers unions, send federal school funds straight to parents if classrooms close

New Twist in Epstein Guard’s Saga – Large Mystery Deposits Showed Up in Her Bank Account Leading Up to Just Before His Death, Interesting Google Searches Also

Spanish Court Orders Madrid to Create Registry of Doctors Who Refuse to Perform Abortions

Former Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good blasts Trump’s endorsement record: ‘Trump IS the problem’

Tom Cotton puts Biden on notice while demanding answers on draining of nation’s oil stockpile

Johnson pushes reconciliation 2.0 with no clear plan and Trump’s focus elsewhere

Lindsey Graham’s war rhetoric complicates Trump’s push to calm MAGA base

Beloved 75-year-old math teacher found dead inside Baltimore elementary school

FBI arrests alleged MS-13 member accused in El Salvador pastor’s killing

EXCLUSIVE: ICE says El Paso detention facility will stay open under new contractor after $1.2B deal scrapped

WATCH: NYC terror suspect allegedly seen purchasing fireworks fuse days before attack

Michigan man found guilty of killing wife whose body was discovered in fertilizer tank

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.