Net migration from Mexico has stopped - now what?

The largest wave of migration to the United States from any single country in the nation's history appears to be over. For now, at least.

Today, the Pew Hispanic Center released a report that puts together years of U.S. and Mexican data and corroborates earlier news reports that Mexican immigrants aren't only coming to the United States in far lesser numbers, but that some are leaving, too. And that together, these two trends have brought overall Mexican migration to the U.S. to a net standstill. From the report:

The net standstill in Mexican-U.S. migration flows is the result of two opposite trend lines that have converged in recent years. During the five-year period from 2005 to 2010, a total of 1.4 million Mexicans immigrated to the United States, down by more than half from the 3 million who had done so in the five- year period of 1995 to 2000.

Meantime, the number of Mexicans and their children who moved from the U.S. to Mexico between 2005 and 2010 rose to 1.4 million, roughly double the number who had done so in the five- year period a decade before.

While it is not possible to say so with certainty, the trend lines within this latest five-year period suggest that return flow to Mexico probably exceeded the inflow from Mexico during the past year or two.

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