Improving economy

“The sad situation is that we are not prepared to welcome so many migrants. It is worrying, there will be chaos if they start returning en masse, there’s not much we can offer them here,” Mayor Ramos tells the BBC.

Some 400,000 Mexicans returned last year, the country’s National Migration Institute (INM) says.

The country’s booming economy and improved living conditions are being cited by the government as reasons why fewer Mexicans leave for the United States.

However, in small towns like Chilcuautla, returning migrants add pressure to the local administration’s budgets.

More money is needed for health care for the increased population, more places in public schools, more programmes to assist returning families. But there just aren’t enough resources, Mr Ramos says.

For decades, Hidalgo has been one of the main departing points for migrants. But now it is seeing many people coming back from the US.

State authorities say that in 2011 20,000 people left Hidalgo to find a new life in the US. But during the same period, 10,000 ‘Hidalguenses’ returned, a record figure for this part of the country.

“The difficulties in finding a job in the US and the threat of new immigration laws in states like Arizona have led to a curb in migration,” says Carmen Dorantes, director of Hidalgo’s government office to help returning migrants.

“Mexicans who live there are now deciding to return, or at least send some members of their families back to Mexico,” she says.