---
title: "Most immigrants Sent Back to Mexico Apprehended at Work or Home"
description: "About one-in-six migrants sent back to Mexico (17%) were apprehended at work or at home in 2010."
date: "2012-05-14"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2012/05/14/most-immigrants-sent-back-to-mexico-apprehended-at-work-or-home/"
categories:
  - "Border Security & Enforcement"
---

# Most immigrants Sent Back to Mexico Apprehended at Work or Home

About one-in-six migrants sent back to Mexico (17%) were apprehended at work or at home in 2010. This share represents a notable increase from previous years—in 2005, only 3% were apprehended at home or at work.

By contrast, a declining share of Mexican migrants report being apprehended at the border—25% in 2010, compared with 33% in 2005 and nearly half (49%) in 1995.

A large majority of migrants handed over to Mexican authorities said they had come to the U.S. for work or to look for a job (83% in 2010). Among these labor migrants, a majority say they will try to return to the U.S. Those handed over in recent years to Mexican authorities, however, are less likely than their counterparts of a decade earlier to say they will try to re-enter the U.S. within a week of repatriation. They are also more likely to say they would never go back to the U.S. to look for work. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2012/04/23/iii-mexicans-sent-back-to-mexico-by-u-s-authorities/)