Reverse immigration in the United States

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Reverse immigration is when the population of a country is reduced by a rapid return of immigrants to the country of their origin.

Reverse immigration in the United States began in 2007.

History

A steady stream of illegal immigrants occurred between Latin America and the United States beginning in about 1970.

Contributing factors include the economic history of Mexico, which created long-term unemployment issues from 1970 through 2007. Refugees fled across the border to the US seeking better employment opportunities during each economic crisis in Latin America.

The illegal immigrant population began to decline in the US in 2007 as the economy of Latin America began to improve. The decline in consumer demand created by declining immigrant population matches the start of the Great Recession that began with foreclosure acceleration in 2007.^[1]

This is the second major economic decline in the US that has occurred at the same time as declining immigrant population.

Heavy immigration from Mexico to the US occurred during the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1929.^[2][3] This corresponds with the economic boom period known as the Roaring Twenties.

An almost identical economic decline occurred from 1929 through 1937 during the period of Mexican Repatriation while the Mexican government was reorganizing following the Mexican Revolution. This is when over half a million illegal immigrants and legal US citizens of Latin descent were forcibly deported out of the country following racist campaigns by most large news organizations within the US.^[4][5]

Causes

The primary factors for reverse immigration are:

• Foreign Economic Improvement
• Culture Conflict
• Illegal Immigration Enforcement

Reverse immigration includes the following foreign factors to attract immigrants to return from the US to their birth country.^[6]

• Financial assistance
• Housing assistance
• Improved career opportunities
• Improved quality of life
• Improved purchasing power
• Compatible cultural factors.

Foreign economic improvement

Foreign investment in Mexico by businesses located in China and Venezuela have increased employment opportunities in Mexico.

The number of illegal immigrants in the US declined by 1.5 million since 2007, or about 12% of the total illegal immigrant workforce.^[7][8]

The economies of countries like India, China, and Mexico have improved dramatically, and this is attracting people to return to their birth country.

Growing evidence indicates reverse immigration threatens the US competitive edge in science and technology.^[9] Estimates indicate 100,000 highly educated immigrants will return to China within 5 years, and a similar trend will occur with India.

Culture conflict

Cultural conflict involves a diverse range of factors, some of which are as follows.

• Language
• Race
• Religion

Immigrants tend to be less involved in criminal activity than US citizens. As an example, 1 in 3 Californians are illegal immigrants, while less than 1 in 5 prison inmates are illegal aliens.^{[citation needed]}

The English-only_movement within the US introduces a conflict between people of national origin that is not English speaking, such as Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Many immigrants come to the US because of greater opportunities for their children. One of the difficulties introduced by this trend is that the children born to non-English speaking immigrants may not have equal access to education, which reduces average income. . 4 in 5 prison inmates are functionally illiterate, and first-generation citizens tend to be over-represented in the prison population for this reason.^[10]

While race discrimination is illegal, it is a common contributing factor that encourages immigrants to return to the country of their birth. This includes city ordinances, like those in San Luis Obispo^[11], Oxford, Mississippi^[12], Foley, Alabama^[13], and other cities which prohibit more than 3 unrelated people from living in the same dwelling, even when the dwelling includes more than 3 bedrooms. The intent of these kinds of laws is racial discrimination aimed at immigrants that tend to have the lowest income. This is called redlining.

Religious conflict is two fold.

First, and most obvious, are xenophobic fears like Islamophobia that manifested following destruction of the World Trade Cener. This has manifested as a Qur'an-burning, Mosque protests, and civil rights violations in many cities.

Second, and less obvious, is religious persecution in the form of public law. Some items used during non-Christian religious celebration became illegal in the US. The primary cause is racist journalism aimed at increasing xenophobic fear.^[14]

The following substances associated with religious worship associated with minority immigrants are prohibited.

• Sacraments to Lord Shiva as part of Hindu belief
• Sacraments associated with Catholic worship

Controlled substances are except for religious worship involving the Native_American_Church.^{[citation needed]}

Illegal immigration enforcement

The pace of enforcement for illegal immigration increased dramatically in 2006 when legislation was passed to create a U.S.-Mexico. This was one year before reverse immigration began.^[15]

The outcome of this legislation correlates with a dramatic increase in funding for Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), which put an immediate halt to illegal immigration in 2007.^[16][17]

Illegal immigration enforcement only accounts for 1 in 7 individuals leaving the US, so this is the least important factor for reverse immigration. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, US Census estimates indicate 6 of 7 illegal immigrants are leaving the country on their own, so this trend has almost no relation to border enforcement and deportation efforts.^[18]

Economic impact and risk

Reverse migration of illegal immigrants from the US back to Mexico has reduced the overall population of the US.

Approximately 0.5 million dwellings have become permanently vacant as a result of a reduction in the illegal immigrant population.^{[citation needed]} The greatest impact has been on the California economy, where illegal immigrants comprise approximately 1/3 of the total population.

The reduced demand for housing created permanent unemployment for hundreds of thousands of building contractors, realtors, and mortgage brokers.

Economic decline cause by reduced spending by illegal immigrants in the US occurred at the same time as a rise in unemployment of approximately 1 million legal US workers that provide goods and services for the illegal immigrant population.

Deportation of the entire illegal immigrant population increases the risk of a collapse of the US banking system due to significant increase in permanent housing vacancy rates and excess foreclosures for unoccupied dwellings.

Immigrants that have achieved a PhD in science or technology are in a unique position. Most PhD programs require the candidate to expand world knowledge, which is the foundation of most industries that involve high technology and health. Each US immigrant PhD that returns to the country of their origin reduces the competitive edge of the US and increases the competitive edge of countries outside the US.^{[citation needed]}

Economic activity produced by illegal immigrant spending employs about 5% of the total US workforce. Illegal immigrants occupy over 3 million dwellings, or just under 4% of the total number of homes in the US. UCLA research indicates immigrants produce $150 billion of economic activity equivalent to spending stimulus every year.

Nearly every dollar earned by illegal immigrants is spent immediately, and the average wage for US citizens is $10.25/hour with an average of 34 hours per week. This means that approximately 8 million US jobs are dependent upon economic activity produced by illegal immigrant activities within the US.^[19][20][21]

References