As unemployment continues to rise and more businesses are finding themselves on the brink of bankruptcy, many immigration researchers had been predicting that a larger number of Mexicans would return home for the holiday festivities and would decide to stay.  The opposite seems to have occurred.  Less immigrants made the pilgrimage home and more Latinos in Mexico are considering making the trip to the United States-not for jobs, but safety.  

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has brought a war against the drug cartels which control entire towns, regions, police departments, judicial systems, government offices, small and large businesses, and some members of the military.  

Battle for control over trafficking routes to the United States and the Mexican government's war against the warlords in 2008 has marked the bloodiest year for Mexico, with drug-related violence more than doubling from the previous year, from 2,275 deaths in 2007 to 5,207 in 2008.  In the border state of Tijuana, killings rose from 337 in 2007 to 843 in 2008.  

As Sam Dillon recently wrote in the New York Times, "The country's spiraling criminality appears not only to be keeping some Mexicans in the United States, but it may also be leading more Mexicans to flee their country."

The other criminal activity that kept so many Mexicans from returning to Mexico, and has many families fearful, are kidnappings.  Specifically singling out people who have family members in the United States.  

'"The kidnappers were targeting people with relatives in the United States, because they knew these families have money,' said Santana Lujan, a local farmer who participated in the blockade.  'It's left a psychosis of fear and worry.'  A teacher who spoke on the condition of anonymity estimated that of the town's 400 houses, about 200 were now vacant, with 50 of them emptied in recent weeks.  About half of the departing families left for the United States, he said, while the rest sought safety elsewhere in Mexico."  

With many Mexicans fearful in their own country, the United States may not only be a magnet for economic opportunity, but also safety.  

You can read the entire articles on:
Kidnappings In Mexico
Drug Violence Fuels Brutality