Fewer crossing from Mexico as jobs dry up

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Fewer illegal immigrants are entering the United States from Mexico as word gets around of the U.S. economic slowdown and increased enforcement.

A survey by the Mexican government found about 47,000 people in the third quarter of 2007 planning to head north soon, the Los Angeles Times reported. That's about one-third less than the number planning to leave a year earlier.

Lorenzo Martinez said that he is scratching for jobs as a day laborer. He had been working in construction, earning enough money to allow him to send home $1,000 a month.

"Better not to come," he said he warns his relatives in the Mexican state of Hidalgo.

Experts have found a number of signs that the northward migration has slowed, the Times said. These include slowdowns in the growth of remittances to Mexico from the United States, which grew by almost 20 percent a year for several years, and a drop in the number of border-crossers arrested.