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Serafín Durán, a 40-year-old Mexican living in Homestead, can pinpoint the moment when the U.S. economy started to turn sour: his hours were cut back and he had to reduce the money he sends his parents in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
''One day, I called my father and I told him: `It pains me deeply, but I can't send money today and I won't be able to tomorrow, either,''' said Durán.
The dilemma facing Durán mirrors the findings of the 2008 International Development Bank ''Survey of Remittances from the United States to Latin America,'' which was released Wednesday. The economic slowdown, especially in the construction sector, and growing anti-immigration sentiment have prompted many immigrants to reduce their remittances or stop sending money to their families in Latin America, the poll found.
The survey forecasts remittances to Latin America will be virtually stagnant this year, with the total expected to reach $45.9 billion, a scant increase over the $45.4 billion in 2006 -- and could begin to decline for the first time in about a decade.
Any decline in remittances from the United States would spell major trouble for Latin American economies and some of the hemisphere's poorest families, who have grown increasingly dependent on these money transfers.
Among other major findings of the study, which surveyed 5,000 adults from across the United States in February and was conducted by the Coral Gables polling firm Bendixen & Associates:
• Some 81 percent of those polled said it was more difficult to find a good-paying job.
• The number of immigrants who consider discrimination a major problem has risen from 37 percent in August 2001 to 68 percent in February.
• About 28 percent said they were planning to return to their home country in the next few years; 40 percent to be with their family or in their country; 27 percent because of the economy and 17 percent because of discrimination or legal status.
• Perhaps most significantly, the number of Latin Americans sending remittances to their homeland has dropped from three out of four to just two out of four in two years. But the survey also found that those who do send money home, now send more, an average of $325 per remittance compared to $300 in 2006. They also have increased the frequency of their remittances from 12 times a year to 15.
''Something very, very powerful happened in those two years. This could have tremendous impact,'' said Sergio Bendixen, president of the polling firm, which specializes in Hispanic public opinion.
The findings did not include immigrants from Cuba, Haiti or the English-speaking Caribbean. But experts say Haiti and other countries are starting to feel the effects too. Washington also imposed stricter rules on sending remittances to Cuba in 2004.
''What we see is Latinos having two pressures,'' said Donald F. Terry, manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund at the IDB. ``No. 1 is the downturn of the economy, but in some ways even more important [are] the anti-immigration attitudes that have become more prevalent in the United States over the past year.''
Those who track remittances or support open immigration policies view the trends with alarm.
''If this is not reversed, it will have substantial consequences, driving up poverty rates in Latin America, especially in Mexico,'' Terry said.
But proponents of stricter immigration enforcement say both the slower growth in remittances and immigrants' growing desire to return home show that the policies tightening what was once a virtual open door to immigration are working.
''The main goal of immigration enforcement is to change the behavior of illegal immigrants and get them to go home,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies., which promotes immigration enforcement.
In interviews with The Miami Herald, a number of undocumented workers living in Homestead said life changed for the worse after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
''I thought I would have opportunities [when I first arrived]; I got a job in a daycare center and learned some English,'' said Luz González, 28, who came to the United States eight years ago from Mexico City. ``Then came the [World Trade] towers, then the pressure and then things just collapsed.''
She was among a group of immigrants who gathered recently at WeCount!, a nonprofit community worker center in Homestead.
González said she lost her full-time job about six months ago because she has no legal papers and can find only part-time work now. Sending even $50 a month to her aging parents is daunting.
Now, she said, she has only one choice -- return to Mexico. ''Maybe in July. I just can't live on $150 a week,'' she said.
Others gathered at WeCount! recalled how easy it was to find well-paying jobs until a year or so ago. Both José Delgado Soto, a 58-year-old Mexican, and Carlos Gallego, 52, who came to the United States from Colombia 26 years ago, said that with gasoline and food prices soaring, finding jobs is tougher.
Until 18 months ago, Durán, who came to the United States 12 years ago on a tourist visa and stayed, worked 12-hour days at a company that supplies the construction industry. He earned about $4,000 a month and sent as much as $650 to his family.
Now with the housing market in a slump, employers have cut hours, and he earns half of his former salary.
''I am just trying to hold on as long as I can and hope things change,'' said Durán, who lives with his wife and three daughters.
Government numbers in Mexico, Durán's homeland, show remittances fell by 2.8 percent in the first two months of the year and have been below $2 billion a month for the past four months.
For years, rapidly growing remittances have funded Latin American development and contributed to economic stability.
Improved economies in some Latin American countries also are encouraging some immigrants to return.
Mexico, the largest source of illegal immigration to the United States, created 800,000 jobs last year, compared to 500,000 in past years.
* Remittances to Mexico fell $100 million in January, according to Bank of Mexico
* "I kind of feel bad that I can't help my parents," immigrant in U.S. says
* Payments to loved ones back home have slowed during U.S. economic woes
* Father in Mexico: "He says things are worse there in California than over here"
ANAHEIM, California (CNN) -- As he fixes a broken sliding glass door at an apartment in Anaheim, California, Eduardo Gutierrez worries about his parents in Mexico.
He can no longer afford to send the $200 to $300 a month he had been sending back home to support his ailing father.
"I kind of feel bad that I can't help my parents," said Gutierrez, a legal immigrant who has worked in the United States for 20 years. "I try. But I can't these days, and it's a tough situation."
Gutierrez said he earns $18.50 an hour as a glazier, installer and fixer of glass in all shapes and sizes.
But with the U.S. economy sagging, his hours have shrunk -- even as his gas and grocery bills have skyrocketed along with other expenses. He's struggling just to support his wife and three children. VideoWatch bad times in the U.S. felt in Mexico »
Bank of Mexico, Mexico's equivalent to the Federal Reserve, says stories like these are becoming more common. Deceleration in the U.S. construction industry resulted in $100 million less "remittances" -- money from workers in the U.S. to their relatives in Mexico -- in January this year, the most recent available stats. The overall figure went from $1.7 billion in January 2007 to $1.6 billion this January, according to Bank of Mexico.
The slowdown in such money has been a consistent theme over the last year. The World Bank says remittances received by people in Mexico nearly ground to a halt in 2007, growing at a rate of 1.4 percent compared to more than 20 percent annual growth from 2002 to 2006.
"The slowdown in Mexico is partly due to the weak job market in the United States, especially in the construction sector," the World Bank says on its Web site.
A poll, released Wednesday, among 5,000 Latin American adults living in the United States found only 50 percent of respondents were still sending money on a regular basis to loved ones, down from 73 percent in a similar poll conducted in 2006. The poll was conducted in February 2008 by the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund. See the rise of immigrants from Latin America »
What does that mean to families in Mexico counting on the payments to survive?
CNN caught up with Gutierrez's father in Tejaro, Mexico, a hard-scrabble farming town of about 5,000 people. A gray-bearded man in a wide-brimmed hat, the 77-year-old Camilo Izquierdo was feeding white goats that poked their heads through a makeshift fence.
He and his wife have 13 children, seven of whom have moved to the United States for work, including Eduardo Gutierrez. The dad used the money from his oldest son to supplement his farming income and to help pay for diabetes medication.
"He says things are getting too expensive over there," the father said. "He says things are worse there in California than over here."
His livestock has always been his lifeline. Izquierdo used to have 140 goats, but he began selling off his livestock to make ends meet. A drought made feed more expensive, and now he's down to just 40 goats, with little money left for his medicine.
"I am sick and have been sick for quite some time. The medicine keeps getting more expensive. I just don't know what to do anymore."
Back in California, Eduardo Gutierrez says in addition to shrinking hours and rising food costs, gas prices are burning up his paycheck as he drives his truck to jobs spread out over hundreds of miles in Southern California.
He estimates just driving to and from the jobs is costing him $400 to $500 a month in gas. Gas calculator: How much do you need to work to pay for your gas? »
"I've been here over 20 years and I saw the recession back in the '90s," Gutierrez said. "But this is worse as far as I can tell. This is really bad."
Gutierrez says his financial situation could be more desperate, like those from his hometown who are now unemployed in California. When he visits his home in Mexico, he doesn't reveal everything about just how dire the situation is.
"Every time I go down there a lot of people ask, 'How is my son doing?' " Gutierrez said. "I don't want to say they're out of a job or anything like that."
He added, "I say they're doing all right. But that is just a lie. They are doing bad right now. A lot of people are doing bad."
He said he knows lots of legal U.S. residents who have moved back home to Tejaro or the state of Micohacan. He also said the tighter border controls have convinced other Mexicans without legal U.S. paperwork not to try to not sneak across the border to make money for their families.
"I mean who wants to risk his life just to make a living?" Gutierrez said.
He said he hopes the U.S. economy picks back up and people begin renovating their homes again soon.
On this day, as he finishes fixing the sliding glass door, he got on his knees like a kid playing marbles and used a hand brush to sweep every last metal shaving and screw into a dust pan.
"I don't know what's going to happen," he said of the U.S. economy. "Hopefully things turn around a little better."
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Immigrant worker: No more money to Mexico 
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