Illegal immigration from Mexico is rising, says a new report by researchers in the U.S. and Mexico.
According to the report by the University of Southern California and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, a Mexican government-sponsored research group, immigrants crossing the border in the first half of 2012 outnumbered those heading back for the first time since 2007.
As the economy worsened, immigration from Mexico dropped to low levels between 2007 and 2011.
"Illegal immigration is a market indicator," Roy Beck, CEO of NumbersUSA, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank that advocates lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, told
USAToday. "They all got gigantic networks of family and friends who are already here sending information back and forth. So this is basically another sign that the economy is picking up."
However, researchers also say the numbers are nowhere near the millions that headed north during boom years.
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