Remittance payments, the money immigrants send back to their country of origin, have dropped to Mexico this year.
Data from Mexico’s central bank shows remittances were down by more than 5% from January through October of this year compared to last year, a decline of more than $2.5 billion.
Remittances make up an important part of the economy in Mexico. The bank BBVA estimated that last year, remittance income lifted more than a million people in Mexico out of poverty.
The decrease in remittances this year comes at the same time as the Trump administration is cracking down on migrants in the United States with immigration raids and deportations.
President Donald Trump also signed into law a new 1% tax on certain remittance payments this year.
