Few job prospects for those deported to Mexico

Couldn't find work in Mexico
For Arellano, the choice was simple.

After his second deportation in October 2006, he had tried to settle in Mexico, but jobs were scarce and he didn't have family support. He knew it would be easy to find work using fake documents in Chicago's suburbs.

"I wasn't planning to come back," he said. "I was trying to find a job down there and live peacefully."

Finding work is the reason most cross the border, according to James Ziglar, a fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioner.

He said the increased deportations is due in part to the failure of new comprehensive immigration reform.

"If people want to come, there's a job. They need a job and they can't get here legally because the system doesn't accommodate a real flow of people, then they're going to come and take the chance," he said. "The risk of getting caught is a risk that they take."

Luis Armando Jimenez-Gonzalez, a 20-year-old who immigrated illegally to be with his U.S. citizen fiancee, it was worth the risk. He paid a smuggler to help him cross the border.

"I came here to work, to have a better chance," he said.

Jimenez-Gonzalez, who also has a criminal record with a 2007 burglary conviction, worked in construction around Chicago. He was deported on the same flight as Arellano, but planned to stay with family in Mexico.

"It causes a lot of pain to come here," he said.

Some families torn apart
Some immigrant rights advocates say the increased deportation tears apart families who have mixed immigration status.

On the day of their deportations, Arellano and Jimenez-Gonzalez arrived at a suburban processing center with the other men, were handcuffed and interviewed by the Mexican Consulate, which also gave them a $20 bill to start life again in Mexico. Their belongings were placed in clear plastic bags, some filled with clothes, cowboy boots and socks. Another was packed with Bibles.

The mood oscillated between somber and celebratory.

On the bus to O'Hare and their flight home, several men spontaneously started singing a popular Mexican folk song: "Mexico lindo y querido/Si muero lejos de ti/Que digan que estoy dormido y que me traigan aqui."

"Mexico, dear and beautiful/If I die far from you/Let them say that I'm asleep and return me to you."

More from msnbc.com When's Palin leaving? Take our weekly quiz Looking at China unrest from Mongolian perch Adventures in Cancerland: Lust for life Red Tape: Credit card firms' new squeeze Elkhart Blog: Making sure health care isn't casualty

MORE FROM AMERICAS

Americas Section Front

Downturn spurs Latinos to leave U.S. Honduras lifts curfew after coup d'etat   Carlos weakens over Pacific Gunmen launch deadly raids in Mexico Ships ending Air France black box search Going vertical: 2 live on Rio wall Americas Section Front   Add Americas headlines to your news reader: