U.S. - Mexico at a Glance

White House: Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Migration

• The U.S. has the highest immigration level in the world. Between 1970 and 2002, 23 million legal immigrants were admitted. During the last decade, 10.6 million legal immigrants entered the country, a figure that represents 50% of the migration flow from 1970. The number of persons granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. was about the same in fiscal year 2002 (1,063,732) compared to fiscal year 2001 (1,064,318). (Statistical year book, Immigration and Naturalization Services, Fiscal Year 2000-2002)  

• In 2002, as in 2001, the leading source country for legal immigrants was Mexico (219, 380 - 20.6%), followed by India (71,105 - 6.7%) and the People's Republic of China (61,282 - 5.8%). (Statistical year book, Immigration and Naturalization Services, Fiscal Year 2000-2002)

• In 2002, there were 37,872,475 people of Hispanic or Latino origin (13.4% of the total population) from which 60% are Mexican (23,999,836 - 11% of population). (Data Profiles 2002, U.S. Census Bureau)

• The estimated total unauthorized population increased from 3.5 million in january 1990 to about 7.0 million in January 2000. About 4.5 million of the 7 million unauthorized residents lived in the five States with the largest unauthorized resident populations in January 2000: California, Texas, New York, Illinois and Florida. (Census Bureau, 2003, "Estimates of the unauthorized immigration population residing in the U.S.")

• Mexico continued to be the leading source of unauthorized immigration to the U.S. in the 1990s. The estimated unauthorized resident population from Mexico increased from about 2.0 million in 1990 to 4.8 million in January 2000. Mexico accounted for nearly 69% of the total unauthorized resident population in January 2000. (Census Bureau, 2003, "Estimates of the unauthorized immigration population residing in the U.S.")

• The profile of the Mexican migrant population to the U.S.: 

  • Young men coming from urban areas searching for a job. 

  • Adults Men (95 out of 100). 70% are between 12 and 34 years old.

  • 2 out of 3 had a job in Mexico. More than half of them worked in the industry and the services sectors before migrating.

  • Around 52% of immigrants come from specific Mexican States, 23% from the north, 15% of the center and 10% from the southeastern part of Mexico.

  • Immigrants coming from urban areas represent 55% of the total flow.

  • Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo Laredo and Piedras Negras are transit cities where immigrants stay 2 or 3 days in average.

  • California is the main destiny of immigrants (50%) who come from Jalisco, Michoacán and Guanajuato. Texas is another main destiny point because of the reinforcement of the Border Patrol vigilance in California. Immigrants going to Texas, Arizona and New Mexico come from Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo León.

  • Immigrants flow is composed by people who already had been in the U.S. (2 out of 3); however this tendency has reduced in recent years.

Source: CONAPO

• Remittances have became in recent decades an important money flow for Mexico. The amount of remittances coming from the U.S. to Mexico in 2002 was 9.815 billion During 2003 this figure increased to 13.266 billion, 35.2% with respect to the previous year. (CONAPO 2004 / BANXICO)

• This amount was higher than both the foreign direct investment in Mexico and the revenues coming from tourism. Remittances represented 79% of Mexican crude oil exports, 71% of the commercial surplus of the maquila.  (CONAPO 2004 / BANXICO)

Border Cooperation

• US-VISIT is part of a continuum of security measures that begins overseas, when a person applies for a visa to travel to the United States, and continues on through entry and exit at U.S. air and seaports and, eventually, at land border crossings. The US-VISIT program enhances the security of U.S. Citizens and visitors by verifying the identity of visitors with visas. At the same time, it facilitates legitimate travel and trade by leveraging technology and the evolving use of biometrics to expedite processing at the borders. US-VISIT begins overseas, at the U.S. consular offices issuing visas, where visitor's biometrics (digital finger scans and photographs) would be collected and checked against a database of known criminals and suspected terrorists. When the visitor arrives at the port of entry biometrics are used to verify that the person at the port is the same person who received the visa. This type of identity verification helps our U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers make better admissibility decisions and ensures the overall integrity of the U.S. immigration system. (DHS)

• Most Mexicans traveling from and to the U.S. can apply to a document called B1/B2 BCC, also known as laser visa. Around 6.8 million Mexicans use the laser visa  making around 104 million crosses.

• The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest worldwide. Over one million people cross the border every day. Over 193,181,314 people crossed the border legally during the fiscal year 2002. 

• The U.S. and Mexican governments work closely to strengthen border security. Both countries cooperate through several environmental, economic, and security programs within their own border area.

• The Governments of Mexico and the United States agreed, in November 1993, on arrangements to assist communities on both sides of the border in coordinating and carrying out environmental infrastructure projects. The new agreement furthers the goals of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.

  • North American Development Bank ( NADBank ) with headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, capitalized in equal shares by the United States and Mexico, with an authorized capital of $3,000 million dollars, to provide new financing to supplement existing sources of funds and foster the expanded participation of private capital.

  • Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) with headquarters in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, México, to assist local communities and other sponsors in developing and implementing environmental infrastructure projects, and to certify projects for North American Development Bank financing.

Consular Activity

• The U.S. has nine consulates in Mexico, more than any other country ((Cd. Juarez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Monterrey, Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, and Tijuana), and ten consular agencies (Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, Cozumel, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, San Luis Potosi, and San Miguel de Allende).

• In 2001, the American Embassy and consulates in Mexico processed 2,650,912 non-immigrant visa applications (17.65% more than in 2000 and 62% more than in 1999)

• Over 4 million Laser Visas had been issued since the program began in 1998 up to August 2001.