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.

While the Media Panics Over AI, Prisons Use It to Stop Rapes, Fights, and $200M Headcounts

X Caught a 200K-Account Chinese Bot Farm Pushing Panic Over AI Data Centers

‘Destroying the American way of life’: El-Sayed’s political orbit complicates effort to moderate his image

Mask-Off Moment: Palestinian Journo Calls African American Hakeem Jeffries an ‘AIPAC Monkey’

Kushner, Witkoff set for Kyiv talks after Putin meeting in US push for peace

Canada Talked Tough with Trump: Now Job Losses Hit 42K as Tariffs Are Set to Hit Harder

House Dems plot Trump investigation blitz if they seize majority

Karmelo Anthony seeks $250K for murder appeal as questions persist over family’s previous $634K fundraiser

California pizza joint allegedly used as meth distribution hub as illegal immigrant charged

Kennedy Center ceiling partially collapses as Trump-led board pushes for 2-year closure

Machete-wielding MS-13 gangster wanted for murder walks free after Biden-appointed judge releases him: DHS

Trump-linked MAGA Inc pours $10M into Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate race against James Talarico

Trump Admin Shows Iran What Real Power Looks Like: Responds to Attack By Annihilating 3 Oil Tankers

EXCLUSIVE: FBI’s fifth Most Wanted Fraudster captured after alleged SNAP scam suspect arrested in India

North Carolina Dem Senate candidate added former Bloods gang member to criminal justice task force: report

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.