Home to Mexico despite recession

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His suitcase stuffed with gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles, Cesar Martinez arrived at Oakland International Airport with high expectations for his first Christmas in Mexico.

"They told me they have a big celebration. They close down the block," said the 15-year-old student at Richmond High School. "I'm not sure. I'll find out."

The teenager boarded a midnight flight Wednesday bound for the city of Leon. As he soared off to celebrate Christmas, New Year's and El Dia de los Reyes in warmer climes, the rest of his family was not so lucky — they dropped him off, walked out into the 40-degree weather and drove back to Richmond.

"I want to go, but the economy right now ..." said his father, Hilario Martinez, trailing off as the family accompanied the teen through the check-in line. It was a long line but not as long as it has been in previous years, many travelers said.

Each winter brings a pilgrimage of Mexican-Americans headed south by car, bus and plane for family visits that could last for days, weeks or even a few months. But flights are down this year, and those heading to Mexico have recession on their minds.

In 2006 and 2007, 19 flights left Oakland each week for Mexico during November and December. This year, Mexicana Airlines had seven weekly flights to Mexico out of Oakland during November and 11 per week this month — one a day to Guadalajara, and two each week to both Zacatecas and Leon, said airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes. The drop was not unique to Mexican travel. Oakland this year eliminated a three-times-a-week holiday season flight to El Salvador.

"When we ask people, 'Are you going back to Mexico for Christmas?' a lot of them say, 'No, not this year, because money is difficult,'"‰" said Juan Manuel Sanchez, an official at the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco. "They want to wait a little to see what happens. They are taking some precautions, trying not to spend a lot of money."

Sanchez said the number of Mexican-born Americans and their children obtaining three-year or six-year Mexican passports in 2008 grew slightly, but not everyone who gets a passport plans on going home for the holidays.

"I don't have enough money to go this year," said Hayward resident Marco Antonio Garcia, who picked up a passport Thursday at the consular office in downtown San Francisco. "I got it for emergencies. Maybe in a year, two years, I'll go."

Pittsburg residents Jorge and Leticia Melgoza took off for Mexico from the Oakland airport early Thursday morning — most of the flights leave between midnight and 2 a.m.

"We miss the family. It's been a while," Leticia Melgoza said. "And the food, the pi๑atas."

Jorge Melgoza said the Concord company he works for has been hit hard by the recession. He is now in the middle of a big San Francisco high-rise construction project, but many workers were laid off this year. He said he has friends and colleagues who have talked of returning to Mexico for good, though he is not sure they will follow through with the talk. The Melgozas said they are too intimately tied to the Bay Area to consider it.

A study released last week by the nonprofit Pew Hispanic Center found a "small but significant decline" in the share of Latino immigrants active in the United States labor force. In the construction industry, about 156,000 Latinos, both native-born and immigrant, lost jobs this year. The unemployment rate for immigrant Latinos grew from 4.5 percent to 6.4 percent between the third quarters of 2007 and 2008, and would likely have gone higher — to 7.8 percent — had many workers not withdrawn from the labor market entirely, researchers reported. Whether the withdrawal is due to migrants returning to their countries of origin is not known, the report shows.

Sanchez said his consulate and the Mexican government have no evidence that a large number of Mexican-Americans will return home for Christmas and stay permanently. In a globalized economy, conditions will be no better there than here, he said.

"If they lost a job, they're going to look for another one," Sanchez said. "Or they are going to relocate in the U.S. in cities or places where they know there are offers. Going back to Mexico is the last option for people who didn't find a job or couldn't relocate."

Beginning in mid-October, Mexico's San Francisco consulate began asking passport applicants survey questions about whether they had lost their jobs, whether their personal finances have been affected and if they are planning to return to Mexico. Alameda and Contra Costa counties have the most Mexican-Americans in the consulate's jurisdiction, which covers Hawaii and all of coastal California from the Peninsula north to the Oregon border. So far this year, 75 people have applied for a special visa that travelers pick up when they plan on moving their household goods, including their cars, to Mexico. Seventy people applied for special documents used for students transferring from American to Mexican schools.

Hector Peralta, a consular documents official for more than 20 years, said he did not expect holiday returnees to start looking for work in Mexico. It's supposed to be a time for relaxation, and doing otherwise would be a sign to family members that things were not going well.

He expects even the most financially frustrated travelers to continue to do what they have always done — give the impression that life up north is going OK.

"If you have a big car, it will show you are making big business," Peralta said. "If you bring so many presents, it shows the same. It shows that you are doing good."