Nearly One Out Of Every $10 Sent In Remittance Payments From US To Mexico Is Linked To Crime

Roughly 8% of remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico are linked to crimes such as money laundering, according to Bloomberg.

The figure adds up to about $4.4 billion of the record $58 billion sent in remittances to Mexico, Bloomberg reported, citing a study by Signos Vitales, a Mexico-based think tank. The revelation comes as illegal immigration at the southern border of the U.S. surges, with Border Patrol agents encountering more than 250,000 illegal migrants from Mexicobetween October 2022 and February 2023.

“There has to be an explanation for the astounding increase in the past few years. It’s impressive that it’s gone from around $21 billion to nearly $60 billion,” Enrique Cardenas, an economics professor heading Signos Vitales, said, according to Bloomberg. “There are parts that look strange, things that don’t happen in the rest of the country.”

Increasing amounts of the cash are coming from areas of the U.S. that lack large Mexican populations, according to Bloomberg. For example, Minnesota has the third-largest amount of remittances going to Mexico, despite having a low Mexican population of around 200,000.

In Mexico, the remittances in more than 200 municipalities have exceeded the total number of households, according to Bloomberg.

Remittances from the U.S. to Mexico amounted to roughly $22 billion a decade ago, according to Bloomberg.

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