Mexico Must Be Part of Immigration Solution

It is not clear what John McCain aimed to accomplish with his trip to Mexico. But if it was to somehow help with our illegal immigration problem, then I think he should have met a few more folks than he did down there. Had I been consulted, I would have suggested he also meet a few poor Mexicans, after all they are the people pouring across our borders.

Instead, McCain met President Felipe Calderon, Catholic Monsignor Diego Monroy Ponce and other government ministers; important folks -- a fixture of the Mexican political landscape. I would have suggested he also meet Lopez Obrador, the former Mayor of Mexico City and a man many believe won the last Mexican elections. Many poor Mexicans still view Obrador as their president and Calderon the president of the establishment and the wealthy.

It's news to no one that the majority of our so-called "illegal" immigrants, especially those who have been streaming in over the last few years, are poor Mexicans. So far our solution to their influx has been: talk about it endlessly; erect all sorts of walls; symbolic Minutemen patrols and lots of radio talk and TV chatter - all of it full of sound and fury, but sadly signifying nothing.

You can no more wish an ocean's tides away than you can wish poverty to go away. This is what many American legislators and certain parts of our political elite have been doing. When they say you can wall the poor out, they have no understanding of the potent propulsive force of poverty. Perhaps, considering that large numbers of Africans travel across deserts, over hundreds miles of turbulent, stormy seas just to reach European shores in an attempt to escape the misery of their homes, should give all of us pause. That thousands drown each year and the tide is never stemmed shows that walls like oceans are but a temporary hurdles. The desperation of the poor in Africa, Mexico and a large swathe of the Third world needs more serious consideration; better planning.

Why isn't anyone, including McCain, talking to the Mexican people? The folks coming across our borders aren't Martians. The solution can't be Martian, nor is it purely American. It must be Mexican also. Most of us honestly think of what we'll do with the 12 million undocumented immigrants in our midst. We try to wish them away, which is politically convenient. And no one explains how we'll solve the problem of 12 million folks whose whereabouts we can't always verify.
Here's what I think we in the US have to do. Admit our "illegals" are human beings. Many would rather stay in their own country - Mexico. We need to be empathetic and refer to them as human beings. While discussing illegal immigration, we almost behave as if Mexico is a deaf mute organism. It is not.

We must stop pretending Mexico is non-existent. I suggest we seriously engage Mexico to find a solution to their immigration problem. For the longest time, Americans have imagined the immigration conundrum is America's alone; it is not. It is Mexico's also. Except, Mexico is unable to take care of its own population because it's a failed state.

According to such thinkers as Nathan Gardels, the criteria for a failed state include: legitimate authorities have lost their monopoly over violence. The state has lost its fiscal effectiveness; the capacity to compel its subjects to pay enough taxes so the state can function. Mexico, like many other Third World states is awash in violence -- the state's and from different drug cartels. The air Mexicans breathe in is suffused with violence.

Is it any wonder poor Mexicans who can't depend on the state for safety are voting with their feet - seeking some peace and prosperity in the US? Bit it won't be long before violence follows them here.

We think it's hard to press Mexico to reform; easier to shake a fist at them. Unfortunately only deep, structural reform in Mexico will work. We are spending Billions in the Middle East to "spread freedom and democracy" while our neighbor to the south is mired in mind numbing corruption, undemocratic practices, incredible violence and the largest migration of poor people in modern times.

It won't be easy. But we must encourage Mexicans to reform their education system; economics and agriculture. And soon. As a physician I have managed countless undocumented Mexicans suffering from long-standing conditions. Healthcare reform is necessary in Mexico.

Lopez Obrador may have socialistic ideas and tendencies, but they are ideas meant to bring a more just society to Mexico. He had a better plan to improve the lot of the poor than what Calderon - and Vicente Fox before him - is doing. The only way for Mexicans to stay home is if they see a better future in their country. It is our duty to help true reformers - be they centrists or socialists.

A resource America has not availed itself of is the large Mexican middle class population in our midst. These folks should be part of the discussion in how reform in the country of their origin can best be effected. I have no doubt that these people would like to see their families back in Mexico do better.

If McCain's intent was more than just great photo ops and meant to change the immigration outlook in America, then he should have talked to people who really understand the dynamics of poverty, the pain that forces folks to travel across deserts towards more security and a better life. As long as, to poor Mexicans, America is the mansion on the hill, nothing, not even walls, will stem the tide of their scuffed shoes.

Comments

[PatA]

I work in a prison, believe me when I say that violence has already followed them here. The majority of male offenders in my classes are Mexican.

[Pius Kamau - Huffpost Blogger]

The invasion of the drug lords clearly has began in earnest. We must be prepared to fight the cartels in Mexico

P. Kamau

[wilburr0g]

You have got to be kidding me. America has every right to determine its own immigration policy. Mexico is hopelessly corrupt. The solution to the illegal immigration crisis is attrition. Enforce serious employer sanctions so the illegals will have nowhere to work, and step up deportations and border enforcement until you have a situation where more illegals are leaving than coming in. Any other 'solution' is a fraud and won't work.

[gvc]

The solution for immigration is to remove the incentive, not some draconian reaction.

To remove the incentive for employers, offer social security, health care, education, etc. to immigrants and bill the employer (plus penalty) rather than deporting individuals at the government's expense.

The illegal immigrant workforce exists only because employers can readily exploit it. Lack of employment will deter immigrants far more effectively than any fence or enforcement effort.

Popular though it may be, it makes no sense at all to withdraw social services, driver's licenses and liberties from illegal immigrants. This just creates an underground society in which disease runs rampant, children have no opportunity beyond the drug and sex trades, and workers drive around without insurance.

So-called amnesty is a problem only if it sets a precedent. If you make absorbing the current illegal labor force really expensive for current employers, no precedent will be set.

[moskie23]

honestly, penalties on employers are probably as bad a solution to the problem as fences. It both fails to comprehend how pervasive an illegal immigrant workforce has become, and it discounts the strength of the incentives for immigration. Culturally speaking, America is represented as an ideal society. If lower class Mexicans had "decent" living conditions and social mobility, they would probably figure that they had a good enough chance of having a good life that illegal immigration wasn't worth it. However conditions in Mexico are horrible. As long as Mexico remains in such poverty people will immigrate illegaly no matter how far-fetched the ideal of America sounds. Also, our manufacturing businesses rely much too heavily on illegal immigrants for them to suddenly stop using them. A gradual weaning from the dependency on illegal immigrants might work but a sudden imposition of a law would create much to severe a shock. It would not only force companies to pay their workers more, raising prices, it would create a labor shortage, raising prices more.

[wilburr0g]

Your analysis is not accurate. If America carried out even rudimentary border enforcement measures, illegal immigration would plummet . Your notion that U.S. businesses rely on illegal labor is false. All American companies have an obligation to employ legal workers, and follow accepted labor practices. If we allow some businesses to exploit a pool of illegal laborers, all of our hard fought social legislation of the 19th and 20th centuries (child labor laws, minimum wage, safety standards etc.) will collapse. And beside that, Mexico brutalizes immigrants that cross its southern border.

[huffposer]

"Bit it won't be long before violence follows them here. "

Won't be long? I've got news for you. The violence has already followed them here. My cousin was murdered by an illegal immigrant last year. The violence that comes with having illegal aliens manifests itself in the country every single day.

I agree that Mexico must be part of the solution. And I agree that McCain is missing the big picture. What about Obama, though? What is his solution? He is perfectly content to let the US be a safety valve for Mexico's failed state. We can't absorb tens of millions of poor, uneducated people. We have our own problems. We have AMERICANS who are poor. We have AMERICANS who are uneducated. We need to secure the border, get illegal aliens out of the country, and get back to taking care of AMERICANS. When you have a problem taking care of the people in your country, the solution is not to import tens of millions MORE people that we can't afford to take care of.

[BADEN]

The only reason McCain is even acknowledging this situation is FOR BUSINESS REASONS ONLY.

You don't "talk to the help" when you are 'finagaling with the owners'.

He could give a damn about the young people making their way over miles of dangerous deserts.
That's not HIS problem.
HIS problem is making sure the business owners on THIS side of the border have that warm body at work when they expect them.

Never confuse a Republican for a politician that CARES ABOUT PEOPLE - au contraire.­...Republi­cans USE people. Period.

Want to scare them to death? Start providing FAIR WAGE JOBS IN MEXICO. Oh, my...THAT would blow this little "no, it's not economic slavery...­really....­".

MEXICO IS RICH. Yes it is.

[cynara]

I couldn't agree more. As someone who has lived in Mexico and tried to survive on $30 a week wages, I know that its barely enough to buy food, forget the rest of life's necessities. People are crossing the border because they are desperate to feed their families. No one wants to live the life of an illegal - unable to drive, afraid to spend time outside the house for fear of the police and la migra, afraid to report their own abuse at the hands of employers, landlords, and coyotes, demonized in the press and in the public. It is an awful life, only slightly more attractive than the only other alternative - trying to survive in Mexico, where most blue collar workers earn between $4.50 - $8.00 per DAY, less than the price of a decent diet.

It doesn't have to be this way, Mexico is a rich country. It is 14th in the world in GDP, greater than Canada and Australia. The richest man in the world lives in Mexico, who made his fortune on the local Mexican phone monopoly (Telmex). Yet 40% of Mexico population lives below the poverty line.

We should be angry at the Mexican government, that allows these problems to persist and then encourages its own people to abandon their country. The real problem is that Mexico has the largest income gap in the world, our illegal immigration "problem" is just a symptom of this cancer.

[wilburr0g]

So life for an illegal mexican immigrant is 'only slightly more attractive' than staying in Mexico? The U.S. government's priority should be to make it much less attractive to live here illegally. When the rate of illegals returning home becomes greater than the rate of those entering the U.S. the problem will lessen and hopefully eventually be solved.

[cynara]

I was being sarcastic... Both options are obviously awful. But instead of the US government making life for a poor Mexicans as horrific here as in Mexico, wouldn't a slightly more humane option be the MEXICAN government making life livable for their own citizens in their own country?

Newsflash for you: Nobody wants to leave their home, family and friends behind to have to come up here and be looked down upon and insulted by jerks like you. They do it because they can't make it in Mexico. If they could make it in Mexico, they would be dying (sometimes literally) to cross our border. Case and point - we don't have an illegal immigration problem from Canada, since Canadians can make ends meet in their own country.

[randyjet]

The reason we have so many illegals coming across is that both governments want them. The Mexican because it is a safety valve, and keeps the discontented leaving, the US because business loves the cheap labor and it keeps American wages down. The meatpacking industry consciously built plants for exactly that purpose to accomodate and recruit illegals. The average wage for that industry went from $19/hr to $9/hr.

It is AMERICA's responsibility to secure our borders. That is why a physical barrier will allow the BP to catch most of the illegals who try to cross. Right now, since the BP cannot shoot them, it is one agent per illegal. The rest run away and are free. A barrier will stop such mass runaways. It will also make it harder for drug runners to run back to Mexico.

[clr2]

"So called illgal immigrants" - they aren't "so called" they are illegal immigrants. No one has said that they aren't human; but they are here ILLEGALLY. Of course we need to make Mexico responsible for their poor. We need to deport all ILLEGAL ALIEN HUMAN BEINGS, heavily fine and jail those who hire ILLEGALS, and return to the original intent of the 14th amendment and do away with anchor babies.