Mexican immigration to U.S. drops

MEXICALI, Mexico, May 15 (UPI) -- Census data indicate an extraordinary decline in Mexican immigrants going to the United States, Mexican officials say.

Recent information shows a 25 percent drop, about 226,000 fewer people, emigrated from Mexico to other countries during the year that ended in August, 2008, The New York Times said Friday.

A major reason given for the dropoff was the economy and lack of jobs for immigrants in the United States, the report said. Immigration, legal and illegal, had mostly surged since the early 1990s, with a brief dip after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"If jobs are available, people come," Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group in Washington, told the Times.

In recent weeks, the spread of swine flu in Mexico and the government's response by shutting down schools and canceling public gatherings brought migration in Mexico and elsewhere nearly to a halt. But flu-related decline is expected to be temporary, officials say.