More and more Mexican immigrants who return home to visit their families are deciding to just stay there rather than return to the discrimination and obstacles they face in the U.S:

There are no exact figures, but stories abound of immigrants who have decided not to return to the United States after their holiday vacation south of the border. It’s just not the same here anymore.

Aw, come on. We make really fun souvenir snow globes. And we have lots of Starbucks and McDonald’s. What’s not to love?

Hate crimes have increased. Discrimination and racial profiling are on the rise as a result of the hostile environment toward undocumented immigrants. Immigration raids and random collateral arrests have people living in fear. Many parents are afraid to take their children to school, not knowing if they will be picked up and separated from their family, even if the kids are U.S. citizens.

Yeah? So don’t have kids. Their meat is so stringy, anyway.

For those who are returning, whether as a result of deportation or voluntary repatriation, the Mexican government is preparing to welcome them back home. On Dec. 18, Mexican President Felipe Calderon went to the border city of Tijuana, the busiest port of entry along the Mexico-U.S. border, to greet his paisanos.

It was a symbolic gesture that coincided with International Migrants Day, as declared in 2000 by the United Nations. On that very day 10 years earlier, the U.N. had adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The document is a reminder that all human beings are born free and should be treated equally and with dignity, regardless of their race, color or nationality.

Calderon, who has been very outspoken about what he has called the anti-Mexican approach in the political campaigns, once again came out in defense of his compatriots. He denied that Mexican workers represent a social, economic or even security problem for the U.S.

Ah, poop. Tancredo resigned for nada.

A one-way trip to Mexico for the holidays [The Fresno Bee]