Mother was wrong

You can have your cake and eat it, too.

Take your pick folks. Two AP articles less than a month apart.

One says Mexicans are leaving the US and returning to Mexico. The other says just the opposite.

To plagiarize Fox…We report, you decide.

From the AP, November 28th:

Mexican Immigration Commissioner Cecilia Romero expects the usual number of Mexicans to return between Thanksgiving and Christmas, despite a spike in drug violence along the border, but says "some who are coming back are deciding to stay in Mexico for awhile."

Greater border security, the U.S. crackdown on its undocumented population and the economic downturn have discouraged would-be migrants from heading north, legally and illegally. The Mexican government says emigration has dropped 42 percent over the last two years.

Many Mexicans already in the U.S. also are giving up on the American dream. Even before the economic crisis, in first-quarter 2008, Hispanic unemployment was at 6.5 percent, well above the 4.7 percent rate for all non-Hispanics. Another key indicator is that money migrants send home -- Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income -- has fallen this year for the first time since record-keeping began 12 years ago.

Mexico is preparing to receive this wave of returnees in the next few weeks. In Mexico City alone, officials predict the usual number of returning migrants will rise
by as much as 30,000 because they cannot find work in the U.S.

Now, from the AP, December 16th:

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican Foreign Relations Department official says there has been no major return of migrants from the United States despite an economic crisis and immigration crackdown north of the border.

Undersecretary for North American affairs Carlos Rico says that so far this year about 1,800 Mexicans have requested permits to bring home their belongings from the United States compared to 1,400 last year.

Rico said Tuesday that the government has no data showing a massive return of Mexican migrants.

Some 12 million Mexicans live in the U.S. About half are believed to be there illegally.

So, take your pick. I’m thinking this “official” Mexican Government release is a finger in the dike to keep others from returning home. If you’ll recall, the Mexican Government has been caught encouraging people to go to the United States in an effort to relieve their own economy and boost the remittances sent home.

Despite all that Bush has always been buddies with Mexico. And it looks like four more years of the same, maybe worse.