Anyone who’s studied immigration history knows that return rates have always been high among immigrants. American mythology posits hungry, eager peasants arriving in America, remaining here and quickly Americanizing. Quite simply, that’s a myth. A few immigrant groups did come here to stay — the Irish and the Jews among them. But the Italians were more typical of the norm. Return rates among Italians were as high as 40%, and many hopped freely between Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. Even those who stayed typically didn’t intend to, but circumstances caused them to remain.

So immigration enthusiasts are wrong when they claim self-deportation is not a viable solution to the illegal alien problem. Most immigrants come here not to become Americans, but to achieve limited goals: buying land, getting married, supporting the family during a difficult time. (This is also an argument for a guest worker program, but that’s for another time.)

Foreign Policy Magazine just reported that immigration flows are reversing, with hundreds of thousands of migrants returning to Latin America. At present, about 200,000 have returned, but the journal anticipates as many as three million may ultimately leave. The Center for Immigration Studies believes as many as 1.3 million illegals have already self-deported.

Orange County, ground zero for illegal immigration, has also noticed the shift. One-way tickets to Mexico are on the rise, as are apartment vacancies. In addition, remittances to Mexico have declined for the first time ever, dropping a billion dollars from 2007-2008.