Migrant leaving or not

This headline from Fox News Latino caught my attention: "Growing Number of Migrants are Leaving US for Latin America." This didn't make much sense to me. There has been abundant evidence that migrants are not leaving in large numbers, and we just learned that remittances to Latin America are up, which means people are staying abroad.

So what is the evidence that they're leaving?

When the United States economy tanked after the real estate bubble burst, undocumented immigrants returned in droves to Latin America, especially those who worked in the construction sector, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. Since then, the return rate has decreased but is still higher than usual, advocates say, citing anecdotal evidence.

Ouch. News stories should never be based on advocates citing anecdotal evidence. Circular migration is eternal, which means you will always find people who are leaving, but that is not equivalent--at least yet--to a trend of more people deciding to leave and never return.

In other words, this could be a trend, but the article fall far short of providing evidence for it. It would, in fact, be a welcome one since it would indicate confidence in Latin American economies. But I am not yet convinced.