Transcript Emigration from Mexico to the US Paul R Earl Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León San Nicolás, NH 66451, Mexico.

Emigration from Mexico
to the US
Paul R Earl
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
San Nicolás, NH 66451, Mexico
We can begin by suggesting good references. Best
access can be through
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/Benson/
See the Chicano Index, Berkeley: Chicano Studies
Library Publications Unit, University of California at
Berkeley, 1990-. Other references are: Schorr, Alan
Edward. Refugee and Immigrant Resource
Directory. 3d ed., Denali Press, 1994, Juneau, AK,
Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of
Chicanos. 3d ed., Harper & Row, 1988, New York
and Chicanas/Chicanos at the Crossroads: Social,
Economic, and Political Change. Edited by David R.
Maciel and Isidro R. Ortiz. Tucson: University of
Arizona Press, 1996. For nationwide cultural impact
in the US, see Político. It is free and online:
www.politicomagazine.com
The total size of Mexican-born resident
population in the US in 1996 was about 7.2
million persons. Of this population, legal
residents accounted for about 5 million persons,
about 0.5 million of whom are naturalized US
citizens. Unauthorized migrants accounted for
2.4 million. The annual influx is 300, 000.
Among many themes, 7 major ones are:
1/ demographics, 2/ the economy, 3/ politics,
4/ education, 5/ women’ rights or social position,
6/ civil rights, and 7/ health and hygiene.
We can barely mention these topics now.
Population estimates for 2002 are US 287 and
Mexico 105 million, rising to 413 and 151 millions for
2050. Ethnic population data can be obtained since
May, 1995 from the the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS) that sponsored a Supplement on Race and
Ethnicity to the Current Population Survey (CPS).
See Testing Methods of Collecting Racial and Ethnic
Information. Results of the Current Population
Survey Supplement on Race and Ethnicity, available
from BLS were also summarized in an October 26,
1995, news release, which is available electronically
at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ethnic.toc.htm
See also
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/96
natcontentsurvey.html
The border
What is said in this lecture may be opinionated
even though the theme calls for restraint and
utter objectivity. Thousands of people’s lives are
intimately affected by highly controversial
shifting policies on a daily basis in a tolerable
yet often discomforted position. Basically,
Mexican Americans perhaps torn between the 2
nationalities can feel disloyal if migrants are not
aided. Recall that this migration involves all
Latins, not just Mexicans. Smuggling people into
the US by “coyotes” is a longstanding border
problem, and drug smuggling is another.
Outrage erupted in Mexico recently over revelations
that the Mexican government had secretly approved
a US Border Patrol plan to use "non-lethal" chemical
weapons against undocumented immigrants crossing
the US-Mexico border. These pepper ball guns use
compressed gas to shoot pellets filled with a cayennederived powder, which is released on impact and
severely irritates the eyes, nose and skin, sometimes
causing welts or other serious injuries. A Border
Patrol spokesman said these pellets are only used in
selfdefense.
Hostility is merely part of white supremacy going all
the way back to the Klu Klux Clan. A newspaper
headline might read “Arizona and Texas vigilantes
have joined American Patrol,” a racist club.
More on immigration
The share of migrants from a Mexican state’s
total population varies. It is highest in north
central Zacatecas, where 9.7 % of the population
had lived or worked in the US. It is 8.3 % in
neighboring Durango, 8.2 % in Michoacán and
6.5 % in western Jalisco. In contrast, it is 0.9 %
in México City and 1 % in the Estado de México.
Has the migrant population marching northwest
from South America into California a rural flavor?
Have undocumented illegal migrants entering the
US been reduced in number by militarization?
Apparently not.
One reason for the higher rates of poverty, welfare
use, lack of health insurance coverage — and the
large costs Mexican immigrants impose on
taxpayers — is that most Mexican immigrants have
little education. The idea can be to improve the
situation for Mexican immigrants already in the US
by increasing their skills. Increasing migrant skills
is about like improving Mexican production. Indeed,
like improving Mexico’s EFFICIENCY.
Clearly, the success of the millions of legal
Mexican immigrants and their children now
living in the US is important for their future and
for the future of the US as a whole. A
significant investment in their future would
clearly be in the best the interests of the US.
The problem can be finding a decent life for the
unskilled, and this is what the latin migrant to
the US is trying to do. An even more difficult
task may be living decently in his own country.
The former US attorney general, Janet Reno had
declared, “We will not reduce the flow of illegal
immigrants until these immigrants find decent
jobs, at decent wages in Mexico. Our best
chance to reduce illegal immigration is
sustained, robust Mexican economic growth.
Free Trade will create jobs in Mexico—jobs for
Mexican workers who might otherwise cross
illegally into America.”
Canada is short of people
Canada’s guestworker program started in 1974
involves several Commonwealth Caribbean countries
along with Mexico, which is the largest component
involving 9,200 workers in 2000. They work for 8
months a year at prevailing wages and live in
government-provided lodging. Employers generally
choose the workers they want as these have often
become an important supply of semiskilled workers.
Workers have some protections, but they must
remain with the same employer. Canadian labor
leaders say the threat of being returned to Mexico
stifles workers’ complaints, but these workers find
their situation better than they had illegally working in
the US. The US guestworker program H2A or another
is of course much larger.
US farmers anticipating labor shortages have
been able to get temporary foreign workers
under the H-2/H-2A program since the 1940s.
The H-2/H-2A program is a certification program
with extensive wage and housing requirements,
that is, the border gate stays shut until the US
Department of Labor agrees that the farmer has
made an honest effort to recruit US workers.
Most western farmers do not use the H-2/H-2A
program, because they: 1/ do not want to have
to hire union workers who may show up in
response to required recruitment efforts; and
2/ do not have the required free housing to offer
to US and H-2/H-2A workers.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement
In Dec, 2003, the US completed negotiations for
CAFTA with Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and
Guatemala. Costa Rica withdrew, because of US
demands that it open up various service sectors to
foreign competition, e. g., telephones.
CAFTA includes services provisions promoting the
privatization and deregulation of fundamental public
services. In addition, CAFTA would remove all tariff
barriers in the Central American countries on
imported agricultural products. This would allow
cheaply grown and heavily subsidized US corn and
other basic grains to flood local markets.However, the
5 Central American countries currently produce 2
million tons of sugar annually, more than the US
imports.
Immigrants from El Salvador include refugees
from the revolution in the 70s are high in number,
followed by Guatemala and Nicaragua. Their 2004
populations, TFRs, Gross Domestic Products and
percent of the labor force in agriculture are given
in the table.
Nation
Population TFR %
Mexico
Belize
Guatemala
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Honduras
Panama
USA
105.0
0.3
14.3
4.0
6.6
5.4
6.8
3.0
293.0
2.5
3.8
4.6
2.3
3.2
2.9
4.0
2.5
2.1
GDP $
9,000
4,900
4,100
9,000
4,800
2,200
2,600
6,300
37,800
Agri %__
4.0
23.0
23.0
9.0
29.0
29.0
13.0
8.0
1.4
On Mexico
Education raises its head again ! Industrial
efficiency and costs are manufacturing
concerns within Mexico, just as skills are
needed to get a job ANYWHERE.
In 2004, Mexico has a population of 105 million
with an age structure of 31.6 % at 0-14 years,
62.9 % at 15-64 and 5.5 % at 65 and over.
The net migration rate is 14.87 migrants/1000.
Infant mortality is 21.69 % deaths/1000 live
births. Life expectancy at birth is 75 years.
Literacy is at 92.2 %.
El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and South American
are added to the countries shown on the map.
México! No hay dos! There is no duplicate, but
there are 2 Mexicos. One is the industrial and
often metropolitan north and the other is the
indigenous rural south. Rural communication
throughout Latin America is very poor, and
relates to poor education which in the end
reveals an inefficient labor force. Just the
opposite is often revealed in the north of
Mexico. Low skill levels result in high poverty
rates at home, abroad or anywhere.
Uneducated means poor, and it can also mean
rural, southern, indigenous or Indian. No skill,
no job.
Latinos from the south
Tapachula, Chiapas in the farthest south of
Mexico sees much of the Central American
influx that is bound for the US. There are
100,000-250,000/yr. This fantastic number is
gueswork. Many enter freely and are given
shelters and other forms of help. Many are
mercenary soldiers (guerrieros). Their accents,
manners and expression are distinct, true also
for what they know and who they know.
Nevertheless, the point is that many emigrants
are Latinos other than Mexicans. Over a million
Salvadorans live in the US.
Please reduce the birth rate radically
Mexico realizes it must heavily invest in
public education. Its birth rate is dropping like
a stone from a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of
about 7 children per woman to 2.5, but this
reduction is very late and the population is
youthful therefore highly productive with
smaller familes, yet many more of them.
Migration pressure will not drop as TFR drops
since the population is RAPIDLY increasing
now. Three old families have about as many
children as 7 new ones!
The Bracero Act and Immigration Reform
and Control Act
The Bracero Program Public Law 45, 1943 was for
the temporary agricultural and railroad workers
brought into the US as an emergency measure to
meet the labor shortage of World War II. The Bracero
Program was also referred to as the Mexican Farm
Labor Supply Program and the Mexican Labor
Agreement.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
(IRCA) was passed to control unauthorized
immigration to the US. Employer sanctions,
increased appropriations for enforcement and
amnesty provisions of IRCA were the main ways of
trying to accomplish its objective. See USDA Bulletin
Number 652.
Some IRCA consequences
Most of the IRCA-affected persons had already
been in the US; during the 1990s, and their close
family members began to obtain legal status in
sizeable numbers. Nearly 1.6 million Mexicans
were admitted as legal US residents between 1981
and 1990; an additional 1.5 million were admitted
in 1991-95.
Beginning in 1995, the number of Mexican
immigrants becoming citizens also increased
substantially, at least in part because those
legalizing their status under IRCA became eligible
for naturalization. At the same time, unauthorized
migration continued, pointing to weaknesses in
IRCA’s enforcement approach.
Migrants come from: 1/ West-central core states—38
% from: Guanajuato, Michoacán, Jalisco and Colima,
2/ Northern-border states—21 % from: Baja California
(including Baja California Sur), Sonora, Chihuahua,
Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, 3/ States
between regions 1 & 2—22 % from: Sinaloa, Durango,
Nayarit, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and
Aguascalientes, 4/ Interior states—9 % from: the Valle
de México, the Federal District, el Estado de México,
Querétaro, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala, 5/ Four southern
states—8 % from: Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla and
Morelos, 6/ Six SW states—2 % from: Veracruz,
Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana
Roo. The states that are the poorest and most
indigenous are the least migratory. These states
appear above in 5 & 6.
Job growth was very rapid between January
1994 and June 1997. The US economy added
about 8 million jobs. With Mexican-born workers
spreading throughout the US in a period of low
unemployment, there was an increased demand
for migrant workers, making Mexican migrant
workers a permanent feature of US industries.
Also, the US is committed to implementing more
border and interior controls, to moving 2-3
million adult welfare recipients into jobs, and to
creating jobs for the rapidly growing domestic
labor force.
Sending money home
The most important direct impact of migration
is the income sent home to Mexico by migrants
in the US, (i.e., remittances). In terms of the
remittance income they provide, migrants are
Mexico’s third leading export after oil and
tourism. Also, some return to Mexico who get
SS checks if not stolen from the mail.
For years most migrants are from the 5 central
highland states of Guanajuato, Jalisco,
Michoacán, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
Then these states receive the most
remittances.
Adopt a community
In the past 5 years more than one million
Mexicans have migrated to the north from
central and southern Mexico, because the
maquilas (border factories) pay nearly 3
times the standard Mexican salary. But since
maquiladora wages remain a fraction of
those in the US, many workers migrate to
the US. The annual turnover rate of workers
in the border factories is nearly 100 percent.
Border cities are overloaded with crime,
drug trafficking, pollution and severe,
expensive water and sewage problems.
The negative border
Data below are from Migration between Mexico and
the United States. In a general way, there seem
more difficulties planned for illegals and perhaps
less for legals.
1./ Number of border patrol officers increased
annually for 5 years.
2./ New triple fencing installed between San Diego
and Tijuanam.
3./ Entry of legal immigrants and border crossers
from Mexico facilitated.
4./ Old border crossing cards removed, to be
replaced with new card with a biometric.
5./ Expedited removal is carried out without hearing
of immigrants illegally in the US, unless there is a
credible asylum claim or 2-year presence.
What is there left to say?
High emigration since the 1980s, legalization in
1987-1988 and changing hiring practices have
made Mexican-born workers significant
components of the US food processing,
construction, service and manufacturing labor
forces.
Mexican migration produces economic benefits
for the US, but these benefits come at very high
costs like those of welfare. The task is to identify
the particular benefits and costs of Mexican
migration, and to specify which groups gain and
which lose.