Friday, April 29, 2016

The surprising reason Donald Trump’s wall would be a waste of money

Undocumented Mexican migration essentially ended in 2008

By Douglas S. Massey, MarketWatch
April 21, 2016

Throughout the Republican primary debates, all candidates have vociferously called for more border enforcement. Donald Trump famously proposes the construction of a 2,000-mile border wall and to make Mexicans pay for it.

This inflamed rhetoric is odd given the fact that undocumented Mexican migration, on a net basis, ended in 2008 and has been zero or negative for the past eight years. Although other Latin Americans continued to arrive at the border in small numbers, the volume isn't enough to yield a positive inflow of people.

Undocumented migration from Mexico actually began to decline in 1999, not because of border enforcement, but because of that country’s demographic transition. From a fertility rate of around seven children per woman in the 1960s, Mexican fertility fell rapidly in subsequent years and today stands at 2.25 children per woman.[...]

Read the full article:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-will-build-a-mexican-wall-to-solve-a-problem-that-doesnt-actually-exist-2016-04-20

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