May 3, 2007
The immigration protest that the American press ignored
On Monday, May 1, the U.S. media lathered attention on the immigration protests throughout the country. The organizers of these protests wanted amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants who have taken up residence in the United States.
As most readers will know, the lion’s share of America’s illegal immigrants hail from Mexico, our southern neighbor. (Mexican flags were absent from this year’s pro-immigration rallies in LA and Chicago; but la bandera de México was the unofficial standard of last year’s march. This year, the organizers of the event exercised their PR sensibilities and wisely stuck to the U.S. flag.)
While the English-speaking media focused on the marches throughout the United States this past Monday, CNN en español reported on a related series of demonstrations in Mexico City. Some of Mexico’s citizens were protesting the incompetence of their government, which has failed to create conditions conducive to greater economic prosperity in Mexico itself.
Speaking to a CNN journalist, one of the Mexican protesters declared that the current immigration problem was the fault of the Mexican government. The Mexican government, in her words, had mismanaged the country, forcing Mexicans to flee north to exploitation in the United States.
I am not sure that all of the Mexicans working in the U.S. are exploited; but many of them undoubtedly are. Moreover, the woman raised an important point that is frequently ignored. Who would want to travel 2,000 miles to work on a landscaping crew or in the kitchen of a Taco Bell? However you look at it, Mexico’s “guest workers” get a raw deal when they head north.
Illegal immigration is bad for the working people of both nations: Mexicans would be better off with good jobs in their own country; American workers, meanwhile, shouldn’t have to compete with illegal immigrants who will work below market wages. (And all Americans subsidize illegal immigration through taxes, as illegal immigration puts an undue strain on publicly funded services.) But the press (and politicians) always begin with questions like How many immigrants will the U.S. accept from Mexico? Why won’t the U.S. accept more?
These questions assume that Mexico is somehow incapable of national survival unless the U.S. acts as a safety valve for its discontented masses. But Mexico is not a colony of the United States. We have no claim on Mexico, nor does Mexico have a claim on us. Mexico is a free and sovereign nation of 108 million people, with a history almost as long as that of the United States. Mexico has a young population and abundant national resources. It faces no foreign threats, and no major catastrophes of nature. Mexico has everything it needs to feed itself, clothe itself, and provide full employment.
In short, there is nothing wrong with Mexico that can’t (or shouldn’t) be fixed by the Mexicans themselves. The current deluge of illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. should not be necessary.
This is the premise from which discussions about immigration should proceed. A small to moderate amount of immigration is one thing; relocating ten percent of the Mexican population to the United States is another. As Robert Frost said, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And we can be a good neighbor to Mexico without giving its citizens unfettered access to our kitchen and living room.