Mexicans are turning back on crossing US border

A study by the Pew Hispanic Centre noted a sharp increase in the number of Mexican immigrants heading back across the border in recent years, and a corresponding fall in new arrivals to the US.

The emerging trend – put down in part to the weak US job market – comes as the highest court in the land begins to examine controversial measures aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration in Arizona.

The Supreme Court will hear evidence from today on provisions that would allow the border state’s police to stop and question anyone they suspect of not being in the country legally. Critics say the move amounts to little more than racial profiling.

Other states including Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina have introduced similar measures.

With the issue likely to become more prominent as the presidential election nears, the latest figures may boost the Obama administration’s claim that its policies are succeeding in driving down illicit border crossings.

Drawing on census data from both countries, demographers from Pew concluded that “the largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States has come to a standstill”.

They noted that in 2011, some 6.1 million Mexicans were living in the US illegally, down from nearly seven million in 2007.

Over the same period the number of people from Mexico living in America legally rose slightly, from 5.6 million to 5.8 million. In the five years to 2010, around 1.4 million Mexican nationals left the US to return home – more than double the corresponding figure for a decade earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of immigrants to America from its southern neighbour fell from three million between 1995 and 2000 to 1.4 million in the years leading up to 2010.

Standing at 12 million people, the US’s Mexican-born community makes up 30 per cent of its total immigrant population.

Contributing factors behind the sharp fall in immigration include the weaker US job market in recent years alongside greater border protection and a rise in deportations. Declining Mexican birth rates and fears of violence along the border have also played a part, Pew demographers said.

Steven Camarota, director of research at the Centre for Immigration Studies, said: “The economy is worse but enforcement is also higher, making it more difficult for immigrants to get jobs in states like Arizona.

“They are making new calculations and changing their views.”

The suggestion that immigration policy is helping reduce illegal border crossings will be welcomed by the White House as it seeks to counter what is likely to be a line of attack by Republicans in the run up to November’s presidential vote. But the figures may also lend support to those who argue that strong measures, such as those before the Supreme Court, work.