> Just out of curiosity, is there much immigration INTO Mexico?
I don't know about flows, but officially the stock of foreign-born people residing in Mexico in 2000 was less than half a million (in a population of 100 million). By now, the official figure must be just over half a million (total pop is near 105 million). And based on 1990 & 2000 census data, the annual percent change in that variable is 4.4 or 4.5%. By those measures, immigration is not very impressive.
However, *undocumented* immigration has thrived in the last 20 years. That's my assessment based on casual observation and extensive interviews to taxi drivers, friends, relatives, etc. Most of the undocumented immigration is from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and China -- and it's transitory, a stop on the way to the U.S. A very small portion settles. Again, most of them from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and China. There's a bit from other Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Very little from Africa.
By the way, my impression is that there was an upsurge of Russian and Eastern European immigration in the early 1990s, partly undocumented. Then, I thought the Mexican government would try and attract highly educated Russians and Eastern Europeans, but they didn't make the attempt. In the spring of 1990, I wrote a little note in a little sectarian rag suggesting immigration rules had to be relaxed to attract unemployed ex Soviet engineers and scientists.
Mexico and the Mexican left owe much intellectually to immigrants -- from Eastern Europe early in the 20th century, Republican Spain and Germany in the mid 20th century, and other Latin Americans in the post WW2 period. My note was blasted saying it was stupid to expect much from people who had just rejected socialism.
Then, in the the early 1990s, the media ran stories about Russian and Eastern European women smuggled into the country to work in high-class bordellos in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Monterrey, etc., combined with urban legends about the Russian mafia invading Mexico. I have never found any serious journalistic report -- let alone studies -- on this.)
I have some Polish and Russian friends in Mexico, who moved in this period, and they complained of mistreatment by Mexico's migration authorities. That's routine. But I'm positive that the worst cases of mistreatment and discrimination are against poor, formally uneducated, dark-skinned, Indigenous or black, Caribbean, Central American, and South American immigrants. It's really shameful the way the Mexican migra, the cops, government officers in general, and even regular people treat them. And, naturally, life and opportunities are much better for immigrants in Mexico City, compared to the rest of the country.