Illegal immigration from Mexico has slowed dramatically from a few years ago as would-be border crossers are finding more economic and educational opportunities at home.
That's the conclusion of a New York Times feature by Damien Cave, which points to research that suggests only 100,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico, including visa violators, came to America last year. That's down from from the 525,000 who came over each year between 2000 and 2004.
But there's another possible factor behind the diminished stream of Mexican immigrants crossing the U.S. border: the brutal drug wars in Mexico, which have claimed many would-be immigrants as collateral casualties. Mexico has faced surging violence since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels in 2006, which has meant that many potential immigrants are electing to stay in the country rather than risk getting caught in the cross fire.
