They are officially called remittances and have made the news lately, here, because American banks are increasingly refusing to send money to Somalia fearing it will end up in the hands of terrorists.
The Pew Research Center earlier this year calculated that approximately $123,273,000,000 is sent out of the US every year. Hat tip: Jim.
The first five receiving countries in descending order are: Mexico, China, India, Philippines, and Nigeria. By the way, number 9 is El Salvador.
We’ve written about El Salvador previously in relation to remittances because the Salvadorans’ legal right to be in the US and work is continually renewed in the Temporary Protected Status program. Even George Bush renewed their status here (again and again) and said we needed to continue to prop up the economy back home through remittances.
One of the major arguments of the open borders crowd is that immigrants work and fuel our economy, or is it the economy back home that they are fueling?
Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota has been the leader in charge of making sure money flows to Somalia, here. It is estimated that $120 million goes to Somalia from the US every year, but note that Pew has no idea of what the real number is.
Is this why the Somalis of Minnesota are so poor?
See all of our earlier posts on remittances, here.