Monday, January 4, 2021

Mexicans Flee California In Search Of A Better Life Back In Mexico

We've seen this type of thing before, some links after the jump.

From The Guardian:

'The US isn't an option anymore': why California's immigrants are heading back to Mexico

Years of anti-immigrant policies from the Trump administration have been magnified by insecurities resulting from the pandemic

California’s most vulnerable immigrants have faced unprecedented challenges this year, with some weighing whether it’s worth staying in the United States altogether.

Ten months of a pandemic that has disproportionately sickened immigrants and devastated some of the industries that rely on immigrant labor, combined with years of anti-immigrant policies by the Trump administration have exacerbated insecurities for undocumented people and immigrants working low-wage jobs across California.

For immigrants at the bottom of the economic ladder, it’s never been easy in the US, said Luz Gallegos, the executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Training Occupational Development Educating Communities Legal Center (Todec).

“But California was also always a place where my family – my parents and grandparents – believed they could build a better life,” said Gallegos who was born into a family of immigrant activists and organizers. “It was always a place with potential.”

Until this year.....

....MUCH MORE

The Guardian is making a rather disingenuous pitch here, what with the national politics angle. We are not hearing about any exodus from Texas. Additionally, during the 2001 - 2002 recession no less an authority than the Fed was commenting on the economic aspects:

From a 2002 Federal Reserve Board Open Market Committee transcript:

“There is growing anecdotal evidence that this may be due to Mexican immigrants departing the United States in search of a better life in Mexico"

I'm guessing this has more to do with California's hideously bifurcated economy than anything else.

That's not to say the social stuff doesn't enter into the "Should I Stay of Should I Go" decision. Previously:

Britain: Mothers send sons to Somalia to avoid knife crime
Thousands Of Migrants Flee Finland Hoping For A Better Life In Iraq
Migrant Workers Leaving Greece, Going Home to Albania....
Refugees Fleeing Europe In Search Of A Better Life In Syria, Turkey