Immigrant tide may be turning

Illegal aliens seem fewer as jobs dry up, law cracks down

North Carolina's decade-long influx of illegal immigrants may be waning as the economy falters and law officers crack down.

Fewer migrants are crossing the nation's southern border, U.S. and Mexican officials say. And some of those who had made homes in North Carolina are returning to their home countries -- pushed by unemployment, the loss of driver's licenses or the deportation of family members.

"There is no work here," said Jose Ramirez, 40, who visited the Mexican consulate in Raleigh this week to make sure his passport was in order. He said he hasn't found a job in two months and, after four years working in construction and restaurants, most recently in Wilmington, he was planning to return to his home in Veracruz. "When I was working in restaurants, I was sometimes able to send home $800 a month," he said. "But there is no work left."

For North Carolina, there are not yet enough data to show whether the immigrant population is shrinking. Census figures that could shed more light are not yet available.

But local and national indicators strongly suggest that the rate of growth of illegal immigrants has at least slowed considerably.

In a study released this fall, the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington estimated the U.S. illegal immigrant population at 11.9 million in March 2008, down from 12.4 million in 2007. The study's authors cautioned that the dip was within the margin of error, but they said there is evidence of a sharp slowing in population growth.

Another Washington research group, the Center for Immigration Studies, found a similar decline.

The Mexican government said last week that the number of its citizens who left to live abroad this year was down more than 40 percent since 2006. The U.S. Border Patrol said it caught 18 percent fewer immigrants trying to cross the border in the fiscal year that ended in September. And money sent home by Mexicans living in the United States has dropped significantly in the past few months, Mexican officials say.

In North Carolina, sheriff's departments have helped deport more than 3,000 illegal immigrants this year. The Mexican consulate in Raleigh has seen a surge in Mexican citizens applying for passports and seeking to secure dual citizenship for U.S.-born children -- both steps that would ease a return to Mexico.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction released figures Friday showing that the number of Hispanic students grew by less than 9,000 this year in North Carolina. For each of the past four years, Hispanic enrollment had grown by more than 13,000.

Jobs hard to find

Freddy Garcia of Raleigh recently saw his brother-in-law deported to Mexico after he was pulled over for speeding. And last week, Garcia said, the man's wife and children reluctantly followed, selling all their possessions and giving up their hopes of buying a home in North Carolina.

Garcia, 28, is supporting his wife and three young children by working two jobs, one on an asbestos removal crew and another in a restaurant. But he said he is worried about the future and is also planning a return to Mexico.

"The situation here has gotten difficult, and the jobs are harder to come by," he said. "Things are getting ugly."

Garcia said he will send his wife and children, two of whom are U.S.-born, back to Mexico within the next six months. He will follow soon after.

Miguel Munoz, a Durham lawyer, said several Hispanic clients who have lived in North Carolina for years told him they plan to go home for Christmas and won't be coming back.

He said some of his clients no longer have driver's licenses -- a change in state law makes it impossible for illegal immigrants to renew them -- and they are afraid of law enforcement programs that allow officers to check immigration status.