MEXICO CITY (Associated
Press) December 3, 2005
— The
number of Mexicans leaving their country has reached 400,000 a year and
will continue to grow, the head of Mexico's National Population Council
said.The increase in migration has coincided with the United States increasing security on its border. Almost all of the immigrants are heading north.
"The effort to increase control of the (U.S.) border has not reduced migratory flows one little bit," Council Secretary-General Elena Zuniga said. "After 15 years, what we have seen is a growth in migration, and growth in a way that is much less safe."
She said increased border controls have largely served to help fuel growth in migrant trafficking organizations.
The migration is fueled mainly by demographic pressure and a lack of jobs in Mexico, Zuniga said. It will eventually turn downward when those pressures ease, mainly through economic growth and reduced birthrates, she said.
The country's population is rising about 1 percent a year, but that rate is expected to cool to 0.59 percent a year by 2030, and emigration is expected to fall to about 380,000 a year by 2025.
