A new report by the financial group BBVA shows that Mexican immigrants contribute with 4 percent of total U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, nearly one fifth of the national added value of agriculture in the U.S. comes from Mexican immigrant workers, making it the economic sector with the largest contribution from this group, reports Migration Outlook Mexico in July 2012. Mexican immigrants also contribute with 13.4 percent of the construction total national added value, and 11.7 percent in the hospitality sector (which include restaurants and hotels).In addition, Mexican immigrants contributed with more than 12 percent of California’s GDP in 2011. They also contributed with almost 10 percent of the state GDP in Nevada and Arizona, and 9 percent in Texas. But “Arizona is probably the state that has shown the greatest decline in the contribution of Mexican immigrants to state GDP,” according to the report Mexican Migration Outlook.

The report also highlights that Mexican immigration to the U.S. has remained unchanged since 2008. However, the economic recovery in the U.S. had a positive impact on remittances which reached its highest annual growth rate since 2007.

The report also explains the decline on Mexican migration to the U.S. through the economic decline and the surge of anti-immigrant laws at state level. “Between 1995 and 2009, the number of Mexicans apprehended by the U.S. border patrol shows a clear correlation with GDP growth in the United States,” the report says.

Read the complete report here.