“More Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the US than have migrated here since the end of the Great Recession,” the study released on Thursday said, adding that the overall flow of Mexican immigrants between the two countries is at the lowest level since 1990s.
According to the study findings, one million Mexicans departed from the United States from 2009 to 2014, while some 870,000 Mexicans have arrived.
A slow recovery of the US economy after the recession in 2007-2009, tougher enforcement of US immigration laws, and family reunification are named as the main reasons for such a shift by the research center.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants cross the US-Mexico border every year. A July 2014 study by the Pew Research Center found that about 11.7 million illegal immigrants reside in the United States, of which over 50 percent are estimated to have arrived via the Mexico border.