If you have ever visited a U.S. town or major city along the U.S.-Mexico border you will quickly realize it is a unique part of the country. The region is alive with multiculturalism, globalization and ethnic diversity. I was born in a border town in Mexico, Tijuana, and grew up in a border town in the U.S, San Diego. I believe that border communities are microcosms of what is possible when we embrace our differences instead alienating each other because of them.
For the past few decades, U.S. policy has succeeded in marginalizing, exploiting and vilifying the U.S.-Mexico border region as well as the people who live and work there. In the early 90's President Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law. NAFTA vastly changed the way commerce was conducted between Mexico and the United States yet business owners of the region were never consulted. Also in the early 90's, border walls and an increase of border security infrastructure was added without input from the residents and businesses directly affected by them. In recent years, more border walls and thousands more border guards populate the region. Some landowners in Texas have actually had their properties placed south of the newly constructed border walls, again without consultation.
People who call the U.S.-Mexico border region home have been discounted for decades. State and Federal laws continue to overlook this economically strong and culturally unique region of our country. Sacred Native American lands continue to be desecrated, wildlife and the environment continues to suffer, and thousands of hopeful migrants continue to die in the deserts and mountains of the American Southwest. The media and government officials systematically portray this region as a lawless stretch of land that needs to be tamed. Factual accounting of the region reveals some of the safest neighborhoods and cities in the U.S. as well as some of the most diverse and stable economies.
Because of constant neglect, marginalization and criminalization of the border region, on March 8, border organizations and community leaders announced the formation of an unprecedented coalition to assert the rights and interests of the communities that often fall casualty to our country's border policies. The Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) has officially launched with more than 60 signatories from San Diego to Brownsville. The coalition is broad-based and includes everything from environmental to faith to business organizations.
Christian Ramirez (American Friends Service Committee) of San Diego, CA and Jennifer Allen (Border Action Network) of Tucson, AZ, co-chair the coalition. Christian Ramirez says, "We are now speaking with one voice. The SBCC is going to start telling the true narrative about border communities instead of having one imposed upon it. We have been neglected for too long and we demand to be treated with dignity and respect."
Jennifer Allen adds, "The border region continues to be misrepresented and discounted. We are joining together in solidarity to dispel myth. The border region is not a desolate desert but an area filled with international communities. Border policies need to respect this region and represent the reality that exists here." The border coalition will work to change detrimental border enforcement policies and demand that human rights abuses and loss of life cease.
For the first time in the history of the border region a group of organizations and businesses have joined forces to demand their voices be heard. No longer will they allow their region to be described as a "war zone." No longer will they permit state governors like Jan Brewer of Arizona to racially profile the local population. No longer will they remain silent. The Southern Border Communities Coalition does not deny there are problems in the region. They believe, through collaboration, more effective and less oppressive solutions can be realized.
The border region of the American Southwest is where newly arrived immigrants settle. It is where two nations exchange goods and services; it is where old ways of life meet the modern world. It is where diverse groups of people live together and thrive. I imagine what the U.S. would be like if we honored uniqueness, respected all cultures, languages and ethnicities. What would the U.S. be like if in order to form a more perfect union, we would establish justice over prejudice and insure domestic tranquility over fear mongering. The newly formed border coalition and the border regions they represent can teach us all how to overcome our differences and dissolve our fear of each other but more than that the coalition represents a grand opportunity to live up to the very founding principles of the United States.
Follow John Carlos Frey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johncarlosfrey
John-
I have read the article and every comment below. My take on the above and the below is that Mexico's people do not feel that USA immigration laws have treated them fairly. Thus, why would the US Mexico border be such an issue?
My question to you is: Are you aware of how Mexico has been favored historically?
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Compare contrast Great Irish Potato Famine 1845-1849 to last 22 years
8 years, 1847-1854, Ireland's people doubled from their average
The 8-year grand total was 1.19 million
8 years, 1989-1996, Mexico's people more than doubled Ireland
The 8-year grand total was 2.74 million
EXCEPT
nothing occurred in Mexico 1987-1996 like what happened in Ireland
NAFTA was 1994-1995, not 1989...
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How many from Ireland from 1845-1970? (126 years)
Only 4,352,187 people born in Ireland came to the USA over 126 years
Pg19&20
http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p1-04.pdf
4,352,187 Grand Total foreign nationals from Ireland in 126 years
11,486,467 Grand Total foreign nationals from Mexico in 22 years
Even if you remove illegal aliens from Mexico over the last 22 years
Mexico exceeds Ireland's people in 22 years, what took Ireland 126 years
4,986,467 foreign nationals from Mexico, excluding illegal aliens, in 22 years
126 years collective total from Ireland crisis < 22 years from Mexico
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If you want to see the source of the Mexico numbers, look below
How many born in Mexico came to the USA from 1988-2010 permanently?
A) 6.5 million illegal immigrants from Mexico 1993-2010
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=133
B) Legal entrants from Mexico 1988-2009
4,986,467 foreign nationals from Mexico 1988-2009 LPR or GreenCard
164,920 2009
189,989 2008
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/lpr_fr_2009.pdf
148,640 2007
173,749 2006
161,445 2005
175,411 2004
115,864 2003
219,380 2002
206,426 2001
173,919 2000
147,573 1999
Pdf page19
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2008/ois_yb_2008.pdf
131,575 1998
146,865 1997
163,572 1996
89,932 1995
111,398 1994
126,561 1993
213,802 1992
946,167 1991
679,068 1990
405,172 1989
95,039 1988
Pdf page9
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/1998/98immtbl.pdf
There is not one country on earth that exceeds these numbers.
In fact, several continents of the world have lower than these numbers from Mexico
Illegal foreign nationals becoming naturalized U.S. Citizens
Show the U.S. Taxpayer how badly illegal foreign nationals want to become U.S. Citizens & assimulate into U.S. society ~ or are illegal foreign nationals in the USA for the almighty USD
What's really strange is that Utah & Texas legislatures are considering granting illegal foreign nationals a state-issued "Guest Worker Permit" to live & work within their states.
Utah is considering a $2,500 permit fee & Texas is considering a $4,000 permit fee, as a means to generate revenues to balance their states' FY 2011-2012 budget deficits.
Do these state legislators not realize that the illegal foreign nationals are poor & if they had the $2,500 to $4,000, they'd be using those funds to retain an immigration attorney in which to become naturallized
Just a thought ~
"[U]ndocumenteds actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost in social services...
[E]ach year undocumented immigrants add billions of dollars in sales, excise, property, income and payroll taxes, including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, to federal, state and local coffers. Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants go out of their way to file annual federal and state income tax returns.
Yet undocumented immigrants are barred from almost all government benefits...Generally, the only benefits federally required for undocumented immigrants are emergency medical care, subject to financial and category eligibility, and elementary and secondary public education.
In general, illegal immigrants get fewer tax breaks. They cannot claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, which can be $4,700 for a family of four earning less than $12,000.
1) If there were zero unauthorized foreign nationals in the USA. Again If...
Presumably,
1) Legal PermanentResident foreign nationals,
2) LPR foreign nationals now UScitizens, and
3) US born citizens,
would have to do the jobs
a) Only 5%-7% of unauthorized foreign nationals (illegal aliens) in the USA work within USA agriculture.
The other 95% of jobs are located very close to where most of the USA population lives, in the cities.
USA has more than 44 million people living at the poverty line or worse today.
b) LBJ ended Bracero in 1960s to help those in povert inUSA, and those in poverty in USA were hired. If ONLY 25% of those living at the poverty line or worse in the USA today, did those jobs, that would replace every unauthorized foreign national
c) Those 3 groups, if they were paid the exact same wages, would pay MORE into public coffers in taxes than the unauthorized because it is VERY LIKELY that they would be remitting 90% less money abroad, and spending that money in the USA increasing sales taxes. It would also increase USA GDP because more than the majority of US GDP comes from consumer spending.
d) Those 3 groups would likely get paid slightly better because there would be less under the table cash transactions, contributing even MORE to public coffers in taxes.
2) Also, when the USCIS SAVE program is not mandatory to be used nationwide, NOBODY can claim that the unauthorized foreign nationals cost less in services than pay in taxes.
Cite the link. I bet it is based on improper methodology.
You cannot mix the 11.2 million illegal immigrants in with the 38.5 million foreign born to do the analysis either. There is a large difference in the diversity of the 27 million foreign-born that are authorized to be in the USA versus the 11.2 million unauthorized to be in the USA. The 11.2 million are 60% from Mexico, and most of the 11.2 million unauthorized are more in need of social services than the 27 million foreign-born that are not in as great a need of social services. I cannot wait to see how they tracked a population that is supposed to be in the shadows...
According to the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Administration, undocumented immigrants pay many different types of taxes, including sales, property, and social security taxes individual income,
Even the most ignorant anti-immigrant radio or TV personality knows that the 1996 welfare reform bill disqualified illegal immigrants from nearly all means-tested government programs including housing, Medicaid and Medicare-funded hospitalization assistance and even food stamps, The only services that illegal immigrants can still get is K-12 education and emergency medical care.
Dr. William F. Ford a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and an expert on immigration and taxes assesses that (illegal immigrants contribute $428 billion dollars to the nation’s $13.6 trillion gross domestic product in 2006.) “If anything we need more immigrants coming into the country, not less, especially with the baby boomers retiring,” said Ford in an Associated Press article
and
it is all incorrect, as I addressed above as well.
BTW, Dr. William F. Ford only has data on immigrants. 27 million foreign-born in the USA that have authorization. He does not have data on 11.2 million illegal immigrants that everybody states are in the shadows, therefore Ford does not know what he is talking about, and neither do you.
PHILADELPHIA -- Many Americans believe that immigrants take jobs from native-born U.S. citizens. These people might be surprised to know that immigrant entrepreneurs frequently start companies which actually create jobs for native and foreign-born workers.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=7bef92994f1dfc9bf79adee51557b477
How Immigrants Create More Jobs
Over all, it turns out that the continuing arrival of immigrants to American shores is encouraging business activity here, thereby producing more jobs, according to a new study. Its authors argue that the easier it is to find cheap immigrant labor at home, the less likely that production will relocate offshore.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/business/economy/31view.html
Let's get tough on Mexicans who committed misdemeanors and hold them up to standards for which we do not hold up Europeans who started illegal immigration.
As a society we have let a mass mentality stoked by false perceptions shape our thoughts. We see the Pilgrims as nobles, not illegals, but we see kids of people who have committed a misdemeanor as devils who dont deserve to be educated.
Below are 2 much more recent information, and mine include illegal immigrants
1) "In the year following the official end of the Great Recession in June 2009, foreign-born workers gained 656,000 jobs while native-born workers lost 1.2 million, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Labor data by the Pew Hispanic Center."(http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=129)
2) Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:40am EST
"(Reuters) - Over the past two years, as U.S. unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally."(http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J37P20110120)
3) President Lyndon Baines Johnson
"The Bracero program had allowed Mexican agricultural workers to work legally in the U.S. on a seasonal basis. But the Johnson administration’s Great Society policies abolished such practices in order to benefit low-wage American workers, and the Bracero program was terminated."
Pg 3 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/49121534/6549-chap01 )
4) President Eisenhower, Handbook of Texas Online, & University of Texas
"According to the Handbook of Texas Online, published by the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association, this illegal workforce had a severe impact on the wages of ordinary working Americans"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html
My research indicates that more than 25% of the USA population are foreign-born, I have the support for it, therefore in terms of 25% of tech biz startups having had at least one LEGAL immigrant founder, that is actually worse than the ratio of the native-born population.
In terms of what was mentioned about silicon valley, most of those startups did not succeed. Just because you initiate a startup biz, does not mean it succeeded. Startups fail every day.
I've really got nothing against developing a coalition to assert the rights and interests of border communities, but I take exception to the inference that their is an assault on ethnicities. Liberals always like to claim that controlling immigration is based on ethnic or cultural divisiveness when the fact is that immigration needs to be controlled because excessive immigration strains the resources of our infrastruccture.
Fav'd
With 14 million citizens out of work, why do we need 12 million illegal aliens to compete with for jobs?
If they wish to be part of our country, why do they fly our flag upside down, disrespecting it in numerous ways and fly the Mexican flag here. We are being invaded and John Carlos says we should be tolerant and just learn to get along. I think we should do like many countries in the world and just shoot anyone crossing the border illegally.
The platform of the North Carolina-based Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), led by William Gheen, asserts that “more should be done to reduce illegal immigration.” To achieve this policy aim, the group pledges to utilize the work of its members and contributors to support “candidates for office that are serious about immigration reform” and encourages members to take individual action and lobby elected officials. Gheen, however, advances his group’s mission by branding undocumented immigrants as mur .de. rous criminals infecting Americans with diseases.
Strident anti-immigrant rhetoric
Gheen’s rhetoric demonstrates an agenda that goes beyond the enforcement of immigration laws. He regularly de.mon.izes immigrants as drunk drivers, gang members, invaders, mu .rder.ers, and disease-carriers. In a June 2008 rally, sponsored by ALIPAC in North Carolina, Gheen stated that “we have illegal aliens that are drinking and driving, and vicious, very dangerous, gangs in this state that are ki. ll/ng people...”
http://www.adl.org/civil_rights/anti_immigrant/alipac.asp
I agree. It is time to hear from those who know the facts and know how to help resolve complex issues associated with this great part of our country. The U.S. Mexico border cannot be managed solely with walls and guards. People are being adversely affected and people must be taken into account.
The US Mexico border cannot be managed without walls and guards either.
It is sad that the poverty and corruption in Mexico forces them North, but they should not get to benefit by ILLEGALY crossing the border.
It’s a dirty little secret but the first illegal aliens in Texas came from Tennessee. Stephen Austin, the father of Anglo Texas, received permission in 1823 to bring “300 families” into the Tejas province after years of wrangling with the Mexican government. By that time, tens of thousands more Anglo squatters had moved into the region. These illegal immigrants, mostly from Tennessee, thumbed their noses at the Mexican government when asked to leave – or at least pay their taxes.
Another piece of illegal law breaking which we revere today was perpetrated by British citizens who openly disobeyed the laws of Parliament and king, refused to pay taxes, and formed an insurgent army in 1776. Ironically, today’s self-styled patriots who have taken it upon themselves to protect our borders from the illegal hordes call themselves The Minutemen.
So everyone but the natives (indians/Mestizos) are illegals!! Hahaha!
quote,
The Mexican racial breakdown is officially presented as 9 percent white, 60 percent mestizo (Indigenous-European hybrid), 30 percent Indigenous, and 1 percent other.
Generally speaking, the genome research confirmed what was already obvious about the mixed origins of the Mexican population. The project concluded that Mexicans are the product of the mixture of 35 ethnic groups.
Roughly speaking, the Mexican population was calculated to be 65 percent indigenous and 35 percent non-indigenous (European, African, Asian).
http://mexidata.info/id1442.html
Good post!
ZF
Americans built the foundation of this country on illegal immigration, illegal genocide and murder of American Indians, illegal land theft, illegally breaking treaties, etc etc.
Many of our national heroes, like Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, all broke laws in the struggle for dignity and justice.
In fact, the group most vocal about enforcing our immigration laws, the so-called Tea Partiers got its name from an event that defied an unjust legal law.
In 1773, a group of colonists in Boston boarded three English merchant ships and dumped the tea they carried into the harbor, the so-called "Boston Tea Party."
This was certainly an illegal act. However, the protest was about opposing a series of laws that the colonists felt were unjust. Furthermore, the colonists had no legal pathway to challenge the laws, as they were denied representation in the English government.
Thomas Jefferson