Amerika

Recessions occur in cycles like booms, and they last for a little while, and then go away. Yet to some people, they’re reason to leave. Fair-weather friends? Fair enough: they’re hear to make some bucks to send home, which is good for them — but in the long term, bad for us.

Thousands of Latin American immigrants both legal and illegal are going back home as the economic crisis in the U.S. causes jobs to dry up in the construction, landscaping and restaurant industries.

The flow of immigrants back across the border tends to be cyclical, with many people going back home for the Christmas holidays. But some authorities say they are seeing a bigger-than-usual reverse-immigration effect this year.

The Border Patrol said it made 723,825 apprehensions in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, down 18 percent from last year and down 39 percent from nearly 1.2 million in 2005.

Remittances by Mexicans living in the United States registered their biggest drop in August since record-keeping began 12 years ago. Mexico’s central bank said they fell 12 percent from August 2007.

AP

What’s interesting is the chaos theory applications of this model.

With the USA representing an attractor, or something to which movement occurs, it has an invisible effect on attractors within Mexico. When people leave, the remaining people fill ranks as best they can. For this reason, immigration causes a net population increase in both nations.

This, of course, is disastrous for the environment, and disastrous for Mexico, which loses citizens and becomes more dependent on another nation. So all hail the exodus!