Immigration Uptick

By Diana Guevara, NBC San Diego

October 30, 2012 Updated Oct 29, 2012 at 7:48 PM PDT

From the housing industry to the restaurant business, the job market is slowly returning to where it was six years ago.

While it's a sign that our economy is improving, economics professor Jim Gerber says it's also encouraging Mexican migrants to cross the border both legally and illegally.

"They're doing things in addition to what we're doing and some of what we produce would not be produced if we didn't have this additional workforce," Gerber says.

According to a recent study illegal immigration is on the rise for the first time since 2007's economic slump.

Although many believe enforced border security may have something to do with it, study author David Shirk blames the recession.

"It's really the pull of the U.S. economy that brings Mexican migrants here, and the lack of jobs, lack of good paying jobs back home," he explains.

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