Immigrants don't just affect the economies of their adopted countries. They have a big impact at home as well. Immigrants in the U.S.A. sent $40 billion to their relatives and friends in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2005, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.

Worldwide, immigrants sent $232 billion abroad in remittances in 2005, according to the World Bank. In El Salvador and Honduras, remittances account for more than 15 percent of gross domestic product. Some experts estimate that one out of every five people in Mexico regularly receives a payment from abroad.

Based on surveys, experts estimate that migrant workers send home an average of $240 each month, money that goes a lot further in their home countries than in the U.S.A.

- Junior Jimenez