With a stagnating economy and hundreds of miles of new fences along the Mexican border, the United States – and California – may have become a less inviting destination for illegal immigrants from Latin America.

Two key signals – an unprecedented slowdown in money sent by immigrants back to Mexico, and a new report that claims the nation’s illegal immigrant population has dropped significantly since last summer – indicate a possible change.

Still, the evidence is not strong in the Bay Area, where the economy is more robust than in the rest of the state, and where local immigrant groups said they see little or no local evidence of an exodus of undocumented residents.

In a study released Wednesday in Washington, D.C., the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors tighter curbs on immigration, said a weaker economy and aggressive immigration enforcement have prompted many immigrants to return home to Mexico and other countries.

“Illegals are responding to changing conditions in the United States and are going home in significant numbers,” said Steven Camarota, director of research for the center and co-author of the report, which was based on U.S. Census Bureau data.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Central Bank reported Wednesday that the amount of money sent home by Mexican immigrants dropped by 2.2 percent in the first half of 2008 compared with the first six months of 2007, the first such decline in a decade.

CNN’s Lou Dobbs has got to be unhappy with this news.  And this is an interesting turn that has gotten very little press.  I guess news like this is not good for the chest thumpers.