The immigration 'crisis' from Mexico's perspective
Look, over the past month tensions have been roused and passions enflamed over the current immigration debate. With his latest column, Dave meekly attempts to throw his two cents again, offering up a retread of the "carrots and fences" 'solution' he (actually Hugh Hewitt) offered a couple of weeks ago. While these comments may seem milder than the images of Minutemen vigilantes patrolling the Arizona border, the calls to turn all immigrants into felons and rip apart U.S. families, Mexican flag-waving demonstrators filling streets or of a Mexican flag being flown over an upside-down U.S. flag at a California high school. Each of these images conjures up a visceral reaction, while Dave preaches a more tempered and pragmatic perspective on the issue. Although more calm and even-tempered, it is still a good ways from being rooted in reality.
Why is that? Because Dave, and seemingly every other member of the 'chattering class' of pundits has ignored the reasons why we are currently embroiled in this immigration 'crisis.' Well, I will take advantage of this opportunity to offer Mexico's perspective on the current immigration situation, along with some history and national security concerns (for Mexico) included, as well as some unconsidered benefits for both Mexico and United States that currently occur as well.
Yes, it's true. Mexico has its own national security issues to deal with in regards to the immigration 'crisis'. To begin with, as it's been understood that Mexico and the United States share a porous border, that means that thousands of people come to Mexico from Latin & South America- and the rest of the world, particualrly China- to try to get into the U.S. That means that Mexican immigration officials pick up drug dealers, violent criminals, and, yes, terrorists before they even set foot on U.S. soil.
Then let's remember the lax gun laws on the U.S. southern states. Mexico has stronger gun laws, but nobody's stopping Mexicans from crossing the border into El Paso and picking up a Saturday Night Special at one of Texas's lovely mom & pop gun stores. So no wonder Mexico has recently decided to relax their drug laws, as the U.S. has done nothing to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico.
The construction of fences at San Ysidro, Califronia and in Texas has created a 'funnel' effect and has forced immigrants to try to cross at the Arizona border into life-threatening desert conditions. This has led to an increased reliance on "coyotes" over the past twenty years, who have themselves created smuggling routes for humans as well as other lucrative items. Not just drug gangs have engaged in shoot-outs & violence, there have been shoot-outs on the Tucson highway amongst rival gangs of human traffickers over territorial rights.
Then let's not forget NAFTA, making it incredibly easy for thousands of trucks to cross the border every day. At the height of winter, with fruit being imported up from Mexico, thousands of trucks pass the Texas border on a daily basis. Just a fraction of a percentage of these trucks are inspected- and guess who exploits this? That's right, the Mexican super-drug cartels, who use the poor inspection rate to help ship in tons of methamphetamine. So the next time that tweaker down the street crawls into a neighbor's chimney, thank NAFTA.
Another concern of Mexico is the flow of money, which may be puzzling. But $20 billion gets set back to Mexcio from immigrants working in the U.S. Of course, this gets the racist Minutemen at the border up in arms, but it concerns the Mexican governemnt as well. That amount is more than double the amount of the Mexican tourist trade. That $20 billion primarily goes to the most poorest regions of Mexico, some geographic centers so reliance on the remittance sent by family members in America, that if that flow of money were to be stopped, economies would collapse. What would happen then? More migration and widespread unrest.
What does this money pay for in rural, economically disadvantaged parts of Mexico? Education. This leads to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Mexican immigrant workers in the U.S. getting an education and looking around at the prospects of life in their village. The men available are hardly those to start a family with. So, this money being sent back to the U.S. has an unintended consequence of supporting family planning, and reducing Mexico's birthrate. While the current birth rate of Mexico is slowly decreasing, it in no way compares to the population explosion- Mexico's "baby boom"- that led to a doubling of Mexico's population (35million to 67 million) from 1940-1960. Indeed, a similar increase in the population during the 70s and 80s is the generation of Mexicans that are now finding themselves being "pushed" into Mexico, due to a job growth that didn't match population growth. Within twenty years, the need to migrate will be smaller (though the desire to live and work in the U.S. will remain, the need won't) and the current crisis will be a memory.
Whatever actions taken by the House and Senate to deal with the current 'crisis', 400,000 Mexicans will still need to come into the U.S. per year. No amount of fences, carrots, borders, threats (idle or no), amnesty, or what-not is simply going to put an end to that need.
Why is that? Because Dave, and seemingly every other member of the 'chattering class' of pundits has ignored the reasons why we are currently embroiled in this immigration 'crisis.' Well, I will take advantage of this opportunity to offer Mexico's perspective on the current immigration situation, along with some history and national security concerns (for Mexico) included, as well as some unconsidered benefits for both Mexico and United States that currently occur as well.
Yes, it's true. Mexico has its own national security issues to deal with in regards to the immigration 'crisis'. To begin with, as it's been understood that Mexico and the United States share a porous border, that means that thousands of people come to Mexico from Latin & South America- and the rest of the world, particualrly China- to try to get into the U.S. That means that Mexican immigration officials pick up drug dealers, violent criminals, and, yes, terrorists before they even set foot on U.S. soil.
Then let's remember the lax gun laws on the U.S. southern states. Mexico has stronger gun laws, but nobody's stopping Mexicans from crossing the border into El Paso and picking up a Saturday Night Special at one of Texas's lovely mom & pop gun stores. So no wonder Mexico has recently decided to relax their drug laws, as the U.S. has done nothing to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico.
The construction of fences at San Ysidro, Califronia and in Texas has created a 'funnel' effect and has forced immigrants to try to cross at the Arizona border into life-threatening desert conditions. This has led to an increased reliance on "coyotes" over the past twenty years, who have themselves created smuggling routes for humans as well as other lucrative items. Not just drug gangs have engaged in shoot-outs & violence, there have been shoot-outs on the Tucson highway amongst rival gangs of human traffickers over territorial rights.
Then let's not forget NAFTA, making it incredibly easy for thousands of trucks to cross the border every day. At the height of winter, with fruit being imported up from Mexico, thousands of trucks pass the Texas border on a daily basis. Just a fraction of a percentage of these trucks are inspected- and guess who exploits this? That's right, the Mexican super-drug cartels, who use the poor inspection rate to help ship in tons of methamphetamine. So the next time that tweaker down the street crawls into a neighbor's chimney, thank NAFTA.
Another concern of Mexico is the flow of money, which may be puzzling. But $20 billion gets set back to Mexcio from immigrants working in the U.S. Of course, this gets the racist Minutemen at the border up in arms, but it concerns the Mexican governemnt as well. That amount is more than double the amount of the Mexican tourist trade. That $20 billion primarily goes to the most poorest regions of Mexico, some geographic centers so reliance on the remittance sent by family members in America, that if that flow of money were to be stopped, economies would collapse. What would happen then? More migration and widespread unrest.
What does this money pay for in rural, economically disadvantaged parts of Mexico? Education. This leads to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Mexican immigrant workers in the U.S. getting an education and looking around at the prospects of life in their village. The men available are hardly those to start a family with. So, this money being sent back to the U.S. has an unintended consequence of supporting family planning, and reducing Mexico's birthrate. While the current birth rate of Mexico is slowly decreasing, it in no way compares to the population explosion- Mexico's "baby boom"- that led to a doubling of Mexico's population (35million to 67 million) from 1940-1960. Indeed, a similar increase in the population during the 70s and 80s is the generation of Mexicans that are now finding themselves being "pushed" into Mexico, due to a job growth that didn't match population growth. Within twenty years, the need to migrate will be smaller (though the desire to live and work in the U.S. will remain, the need won't) and the current crisis will be a memory.
Whatever actions taken by the House and Senate to deal with the current 'crisis', 400,000 Mexicans will still need to come into the U.S. per year. No amount of fences, carrots, borders, threats (idle or no), amnesty, or what-not is simply going to put an end to that need.
posted by true_slicky at 8:18 PM
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