Senior fellow Michael Clemens’ paper on North Carolinian farmworkers cited in an article about migration and the American economy.
Mexican migration in particular has been on the decline as the economy in Mexico has steadily improved. In 2011, the most recent data available, the number of Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally was at its lowest rate in two decades.
In her full report, Ryo found that many migrants don't view crossing the border illegally as an immoral offense partly because it is such a common occurrence within the Mexican community, a cultural norm.
"Communities with a long history and high prevalence of out-migration might have a culture of migration and, for many young men, migration can be seen as a rite of passage," Ryo says.
The other factor Ryo discovered was that many migrants view crossing the border illegally as the only choice they have to overcome an unfair and hypocritical visa system.
"They see that there is a huge gap in our political rhetoric and the economic reality," Ryo says. "They talk about the fact that the work they do, that that kind of work results in benefits to the American economy."
Take for example agricultural workers. A report by the National Center for Farmworker Health shows that 70 percent of them are foreign born, 68 percent born in Mexico and about half of the migrants are not authorized to work in the United States.
But scores of researchers, pundits and politicians recognize that without the workers - legal or not – the country wouldn't be able to support the $28 billion fruit and vegetable industry.
A report by the Center for Global Development released a report in May showing that despite the fact that North Carolina had high unemployment, only 163 North Carolinians reported to work in the fields and just seven stayed for the entire growing season.