Mexican immigration takes dramatic drop

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MEXICO CITY, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Tighter U.S. border control, a lack of jobs and Mexican criminal gangs are having a dramatic effect on illegal immigration from Mexico, census figures indicate.

Mexican officials told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Tuesday net migration has fallen to zero with fewer Mexicans leaving for the United States and many others returning home.

In addition, arrests by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwestern frontier tumbled to 304,755 during the 11 months that ended in August, extending a nearly steady drop since a peak of 1.6 million in 2000.

Immigration scholar Douglas Massey of Princeton University has studied Mexican migrant towns for many years.

He said surveys of those towns indicate the number of people making their first trip north has dwindled to near zero.

"We are at a new point in the history of migration between Mexico and the United States," Massey told a Mexico City news conference.