According to numbers released this month from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), income from remittances abroad stood at $5.2 billion in June, a 16.2 percent decrease compared with June 2024.
That represents the largest drop in 13 years, according to a report from BBVA Research.
Remittances in 2024 represented approximately 3.4 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.
Remittances are transfers of money earned in the United States to such parties as relatives, friends, or business associates abroad. Ninety-nine percent of the remittances sent in the first half of 2025 were made through electronic funds transfers, according to the BBVA report.
The drop occurred after a decade of growth. Between 2013 and 2024, remittances to Mexico almost tripled to $64.7 billion from $23 billion, according to BBVA.
Analysts attribute the decline to President Donald Trump’s deportation policies and the availability of alternative methods for sending remittances.
Skipping down to the preventative measure.
REMITTANCE TAX
Republicans, who have argued that a remittance tax would discourage illegal immigration, were successful in getting a 1 percent remittance fee added to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Should have started at ten percent.
That tax becomes effective in January 2026 for certain types of remittances in which the sender provides cash, a money order, or a cashier’s check to remittance providers. Traditional remittance providers in the United States include companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram.
Vice President JD Vance cosponsored a similar bill when he was a U.S. senator from Ohio in 2023. That bill, called the WIRED Act, would have imposed a 10 percent fee on remittances flowing out of the United States.