Homeward bound. (New Business).

Economic recession and terrorism fears have caused many a Mexican migrant worker to head home from the United States.

In mid-November, Mexico's National Migration Institute reported that more than 350,000 Mexican citizens had returned from the United States in the two months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a 9% increase with respect to the same period in 2000. Mexican migration official Felipe Preciado told the Wall Street Journal that he expects that number to reach 2 million by the end of the year.

Although the Christmas season is traditionally a time for migrants to visit their family in Mexico, if the trend that began long before Sept. 11 continues, these workers might not plan a return trip. In the 12 months ending Sept. 12, the Wall Street Journal reported that arrests of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border fell 25% compared to the previous year--reaching the lowest figures since 1995. From Oct. 1 to Nov. 5, detentions fell another 54%.

Mexico's Foreign Secretariat says that so far this year its 46 consulates in the United States have issued nearly 50,000 passports and other papers undocumented Mexicans need for returning to Mexico, much more than the previous year.

There are no exact unemployment figures for undocumented immigrants in the United States, but according to the article, there is no doubt they have gone up. In sectors that rely heavily on illegal workers, like hotels and restaurants, layoffs since Sept. 11 have reached the hundreds of thousands.

This exodus could cause problems for PresidentVicente Fox, who promised during his campaign that he would created 1.3 million jobs annually. So far this year, Mexico has lost nearly 500,000 jobs, and thousands of migrant workers returning over the next few months will only exacerbate this problem. It will also hurt the economy at large: approximately US$8 billion a year is sent to Mexico from family members working in the north, making these remittances Mexico's fourth-largest money-maker and a valuable social safety net for the country's rural poor. On the other hand, once the U.S. economy recovers, these same U.S. sectors that are laying people off will need to hire again--and this perhaps will be the impetus U.S. lawmakers need to finally pass the migrant worker legislation President Fox and U.S. President George W. Bush had batted around earlier this year.