Compiled By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. April 6, 2016: The latest on Donald Trump “mad hatter” plan to run the U.S. includes impounding “all remittance payments derived from illegal wages” of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. to compel Mexico to pay for his border wall. Remittances or money transfers from immigrants in the US and globally is money sent back to help their relatives and friends in his or her home country. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries and makes its way quickly into the small businesses and economy of the country. So how much exactly is sent home to Mexico and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean? Here are the top 10 receiving remittance nations in this region according to latest World Bank data:
1: Mexico
Mexico, with a population of 32.9 million immigrants in the U.S. alone, definitively leads the region in remittances according to the World Bank’s ‘Migration and Remittances Factbook of 2016.’ The total for 2015, the latest data available, is put at a whopping USD 25.7 billion. However, the World Bank insists that the true size of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be larger.
2: Guatemala
The troubled Central American nation of Guatemala, with some 902,000 immigrants in the U.S., took the number two spot with remittances received in 2015 put at USD 6 billion.
3: The Dominican Republic
Coming in at number three on the top ten list is the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic with 960,000 immigrants calling the U.S. home. World Bank data say some USD 5 billion was sent back to the DR as remittances in 2015.
4: Colombia
With USD 4.5 billion sent back in money transfers in 2015, the South American nation of Colombia, with an estimated 972,000 nationals living in the US, took the fourth spot on the top ten list.
5: EI Salvador
El Salvador, which has about 1.1 million immigrants in the U.S., came in at fifth on the top 10 ranks, recording a whopping USD 4.4 billion in remittances in 2015.
6: Honduras
Honduras, which has about 534,000 immigrants in the U.S., received some USD 3.8 billion in remittances in 2015, according to the latest World Bank data.
7: Brazil
Brazilians in the US – who number some 1.3 million – sent home USD 2.8 billion in 2015, putting them at 7th on the top ten list.
8: Peru
Peru received USD 2.7 billion last year from nationals in the U.S. who number some 628,000, putting it on the 8th spot on the top 10 remittance recipient list.
9: Ecuador
Coming in at ninth was the South American nation of Ecuador, which according to World Bank data, received USD 2 billion last year. An estimated 665,000 Ecuadorians live in the U.S.
10: Jamaica
Jamaicans, the third largest West Indian immigrant group in the U.S., sent home USD 2.3 billion last year, according to the World Bank. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there were an estimated 965,355 Jamaicans across the country.
