02142015Sat
Last updateFri, 13 Feb 2015 3pm
The Good Life Reporter

Non-Mexicans flood US border, outnumber Mexican migrants

A new study has found that for the first year in the six-decade record, more non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended at the U.S. border in 2014. 

According to the study, carried out by the Pew Research Center, 229,000 Mexicans were detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2014, while 257,000 non-Mexicans were caught. This is a huge shift from 2007, when agents captured 809,000 Mexicans and just 68,000 non- Mexicans. 

The findings confirm that fewer Mexicans are traveling north. A 2012 Pew report found migration had “come to a standstill” and may have reversed.

“Migration started to dry up since the great recession in 2008,” Jens Manuel Krogstad, co-author of the report said. “That’s been for a variety of reasons, some of them are economic, there are fewer jobs in the U.S. and economic conditions in Mexico also contributed. Also, there’s increased border enforcement.”

Overall, however, immigration is likely on the rise. More than 486,000 immigrants were stopped from entering the United States in 2014, a 16-percent increase from 2013.

This trend is mostly driven by Central Americans, with a surge in child migrants making the journey alone. 

“It’s no surprise given how violent it’s gotten in Central America that those numbers are up,” Wendy Feliz, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Council said. “It used to be all for economic reasons, now it’s gotten to the point where people are actually seeking safety.”

Border authorities detained 68,631 minors traveling without their parents in 2014. Almost all of those migrants were from El Salvador, Honduras or Guatemala, countries badly affected by drug gangs.