Mexico and People: Immigration and Its Effects - Essay Example

Mexico and her People: Immigration and its Effects The country of Mexico lies in the American continent, the neighbor of a powerful and formidable country, the U.S.A. It is perhaps discomfiting to Mexicans that their country is generally spoken of in relation with the U.S. but never the other way around. The intention of this paper is not to lump these two diverse countries together but at the same time to recognize that they affect each other more profoundly than is sometimes popularly believed. Economic and political instability in Mexico has an impact for its neighbor too. Migration by Mexicans into the U.S. has taken place since the 19th century. Contrary to popular belief this migration is not always a negative prospect. Such migration has a greater positive for the economies of both the two countries. The paper will analyze the effect of such migration on the Mexican economy along with its ramifications for the U.S. economy. Before we delve into this issue any further it is perhaps best to do a quick study of the country. Mexico is the third largest nation in North America and among the fifteen largest in the world. It is bordered by the U.S. in the north and by Guatemala and Belize in the south. Mexico is poor in natural resources except oil. However it is rich in mineral sources like gold and silver. These two countries, Mexico and the U.S., have a long and shared history. One of the momentous events in this shared history has been the annexation of large parts of Mexico by the U.S. in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. This treaty effectively ended Mexican claims to the state of Texas while at the same time Mexico also incurred the loss of the state of California and much of modern day Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. This annexation had been engineered by James Polk, the eleventh President of the U.S. The annexation had been largely supported by the American people though Polk's means and methods to achieve it were even at that time highly suspect. Mexico had lost much of its agricultural land in this transaction which compensation by the U.S could not rectify. Daniel Levy and Gabriel Szekely in their book Mexico - Paradoxes of Stability and Change believe that Mexico's political stability is inadvertently tied with its economic growth. This is supported by Daniel James in Mexico And The Americans where he remarks that single party rule in Mexico, though not an encouraging aspect about Mexico may have helped her progress in the long run. Similarly Haber and Razo reject the claims of other historians that the Mexican Revolution (1910 - 1919) had a negative impact on the industrial growth of Mexico. In fact they say that there was an overall growth in sectors like cotton textiles, steel and cement industries. The 1920's saw a massive increase of import of U.S. made heavy machinery by Mexico for use in its industries. Mexico had an economic boom in the Post - War years but some fifty years later it also suffered a collapse of its economy when the peso became almost worthless. It is hardly surprising that many Mexicans try to seek employment in the U.S. A majority among these enter the U.S. illegally to work primarily in agriculture and factories. Mexico, on the other hand, also absorbs a large number of immigrants from the Central American countries who emigrate to work in Mexico or use it as a gateway to enter the U.S. Over the years relations between the two countries have had their fair share of successes and reversals. Mexico's problems stem in part from being the neighbor of the most powerful country in the world. Mexico is among the ten most populous countries in the world. It also has an immense disparity between its rich and its poor. Illegal immigration is one of the thorniest issues that beleaguer U.S. - Mexico relations. Typically Americans feel swamped by their neighbors and hostility ensues. The U.S Census Office estimated that in the years 1999 - 2000 the foreign - born population had increased by 50 pc when in contrast the growth in the native - born population was only 9.3 pc and the overall increase in population was 13 pc (Hill and Wong, 1). These migrants, both legal and illegal, remit a considerable part of their income to their homes in Mexico. For Americans, this remains a cause of considerable angst as they decry the loss of American money to Mexico. But Conway and Cohen show that such international remittances can work for the American economy too. They believe that the primary migrant is often an adult male in a Mexican family. Though they live abroad most of them retain close ties with their family and community. The absence of the lead male member of the family necessitates that the women of the household step up to the position of authority. It is the women who decide how to make use of the remittances sent from abroad. This has beneficial consequences for the position of women in Mexican society. Conway and Cohen also point out the initiatives taken by the U.S private sector to turn this to their benefit. Mexicans remit anything between 4 to 6 billion dollars annually. Most transactions are performed through U.S. electronic banking services which have high transfer rates. Even the U.S. Postal service has allowed, since 1996, remittances of up to 3000 dollars from any branch of the U.S. Postal Service to Mexico's Bancomer Bank (41). Taylor establishes that the majority of Mexicans who emigrate to the U.S are neither from the poorest nor from the richest sections. Also most do not emigrate in the hope of permanently settling in America. The ablest worker who can contribute to the family's income does not emigrate thus negating a possible drain on Mexico's own resource pool (635). The village economy of Mexico is thereby not threatened. Also there is a suggestion that the skills attained by these migrant workers are actually a long term asset for Mexico. However Taylor also mentions that one of the reasons for emigrating to the U.S. for a Mexican is the already established support system of kin relationships in the U.S. Also an unstable economy and severe recession in Mexico may result in these migrant workers settling permanently in the U.S or it could result in an exodus of even the able village farm workers from Mexico to the U.S. The U.S. in its turn has made use of these migrant workers as it sees fit. In times of scarcity of farm hands it has allowed large-scale migration to take effect, to enable a source of cheap labor for its farms. It has also at times of surplus undertaken massive initiatives to push back into Mexico these very same, now unwanted, workers. Operation Wetback, initiated in 1954, was one such operation which deported more than a million undocumented Mexican workers (Espenshade, 198). Illegal immigrants are also said to be a burden on the state healthcare and welfare system of the U.S. Espenshade that these migrants do overwhelm local and state governments but their effect on the U.S as a whole is negligible. Also these migrants generate profits for their employers and create employment avenues for others through their work and also through their consumption of U.S goods. He says that harsh measures to stem the flow of undocumented Mexican workers as well as illegal migrants from other countries could be detrimental not just to the American economy but in a way will strike at the heart of the principles the American nation was founded on. Bilateral relations between the U.S and Mexico have been thorny and troublesome to say the least. Issues that continually strain relations between the two neighbors include illegal immigration, drug supply and foreign policy directives that arise from different ideological constructs. Mexico remains the biggest supplier of drugs and narcotics to the U.S. It is worthwhile to take a moment and consider the fact of such disparate countries being neighbors or, to use a colloquial expression, being joined at the hip. Unlike Canada, Mexico is rarely a quiescent neighbor who defers to big brother U.S.A. Rather Mexico has become increasingly vociferous about being seen as an independent entity with an opinion that does not necessarily converge with that of its neighbor. Mexico has a mixed population of mainly mestizos, who are the racial group with Spanish and Native Indian inheritance, Amerindians, and Whites. It was ruled in ancient times by the Aztecs who established dominion over other tribes like the Mayans. In 1519 Hernan Cortes and a few other Spaniards conquered Mexico. She remained a colony of the Spanish until 1821 when it gained independence. Octavio Paz in his book of essays called The Labyrinth of Solitude says about the Mexican psyche. The history of Mexico is that of a man in search of his ties, his origin. Successfully Gallicized, Hispanic, Indian, 'pocho', her history courses like a jade comet that sometimes flashes.It is an orphan hood, an obscure consciousness from which we have been altogether torn, and an ardent search; a flight and a return, an attempt to re - establish the bonds which united us in creation (cited in James, 450). After independence Mexico has had several uprisings and coups, civil unrest and authoritarian rule. From 1876 to 1911 Mexico had a long reign of political stability through the rule of General Porfirio Diaz who remained the head of state for these many years. Though presidential elections were held in these years, their results were rigged in favor of Diaz. From 1910 to 1913 the northern states of Mexico rose in revolt against unequal power and economic structures. This revolt however was led mainly by the elite faction of the populace. In 1914 the peasants revolted, resulting in the most major period of political and economic turmoil. Mexico was virtually polarized. The elite faction from Mexico's Northern states did not want a radical power shift in favor of the peasants and the masses while the other faction led by Emilio Zapata and Pancho Villa sought reform in land policies and greater changes in institutional reforms. The Northern Elite won and compromised with the peasant faction which led to the birth of the Mexican Constitution in 1917. Haber and Razo point out that this long period of conflict does not point to the fact that Mexico lacked and thereby needed an established form of democratic politics but rather to the missteps and unfulfilled promises that the earlier part of the Revolution failed to satisfy. Till the end of the 1920's Mexico remained mired in a political abyss. Local pockets of feudal power had evolved into being which threatened federal homogeneity. However Haber and Razo point out that this arbitrary discourse of local and feudal with the federal rule pushed Mexico towards the path of nationalization. Peasants invaded the lands of landowners and after occupying the land would move for legal rights to that land. The government had also started the process of nationalization of the Railroads and of property. From 1926 to 1929 there was an intense conflict between the state and church over the lands owned by the Church and its perceived interference in public life. This has been immortalized in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory (1940). It has been observed that Central America has always been influenced by Communism. Several Central American governments today have Left - leaning governments like Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize. Mexico itself has had one party rule till the year 2000 when Vincente Fox of the opposition National Action Party became President. This is not entirely palatable to the largest capitalist country in the world, the U.S. This condensed version of Mexico's history and geopolitical significance is needed to understand where the country is at today. Octavio Paz, one of Mexico's renowned litterateurs, put into words the Mexican sentiment about America. In general, Americans have not looked for Mexico in Mexico; they have looked for their obsessions, enthusiasms, phobias, hopes, interests - and these are what they have found. In short, the history of our relationship is the history of mutual and stubborn deceit, usually involuntary though not always so (cited in Levy and Szekely, 14). Paz's comments are echoed perhaps unconsciously by Daniel James when he writes, In the Mexicans, that is to say, we are not dealing with a people whose cultural heritage, ethnic makeup, and national psychology have a great deal in common with ours, and consequently they are bound to react even to consistent displays of genuine friendship in a manner that may sometimes appear strange to us. We have seen how few outsiders have been accepted into the Mexican nation over the years and the suspicion with which the Mexican regards even those foreigners who have demonstrated their friendship for him and their love for his country, it stems from a collective past unrelated to questions of that sort and reflects the basic Mexican character (440-441). James leaves none in doubt about who exactly are the "we", "ours" and "us" in this short passage from his book. This type of critical analysis has been widely discredited today but is useful as an example of the subtle condescension that existed and still exists. The point that is sought to be made here is the necessity of seeing people as resource and not as a burden. Even with authoritarian rule or maybe because of it Mexico has put herself firmly on the road to progress. From a primarily agricultural nation she is steadily becoming industrialized. A stable economy and a stable government, regardless of the form it manifests, is crucial to a stronger Mexico and conversely to her neighbors too. Mexico's people need to be seen as an asset both by her and the U.S. Works Cited Conway, Dennis, and Jeffrey H. Cohen. "Consequences of Migration and Remittances for Mexican Transnational Communities." Economic Geography 74 (1998): 26-44. JSTOR. 15 Nov. 2008 . Espenshade, Thomas J. "Unauthorized Immigration to the United States." Annual Review of Sociology 21 (1995): 195-216. JSTOR. 15 Nov. 2008 . Haber, Stephen, and Armando Razo. "Political Instability and Economic Performance: Evidence from Revolutionary Mexico." World Politics 51.1 (1998): 99-143. ProjectMuse. 15 Nov. 2008 . Hill, Kenneth, and Rebeca Wong. "Mexico: U.S. Migration: Views from Both Sides of the Border." Population and Development Review 31 (2005): 1-18. JSTOR. 15 Nov. 2008 . James, Daniel. Mexico And The Americans. New York: Frederick A. Praeger Press, 1963. Levy, Daniel and Gabriel Szekely. Mexico - Paradoxes of Stability and Change. Colorado: Westview Press, 1983. Taylor, J. Edward. "Undocumented Mexico-U.S. Migration and the Returns to Households in Rural Mexico." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 69 (1987): 626-638. JSTOR. 15 Nov. 2008 . Read More