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Drop in Illegal Immigration Opens Door for Real Reform
· Friday, July 15, 2011
With unemployment rising and a U.S. debt-crisis looming, Americans haven't had much good news lately. But there is one bright spot on the policy front: Illegal immigration from Mexico has virtually stopped.
Less than a decade ago, a half-million Mexicans were coming to the U.S. illegally every year, accounting for 60 percent of all illegal immigration. But last year, fewer than 100,000 Mexicans crossed the border illegally or overstayed their visas. And it appears that an even greater number of Mexican illegal immigrants left the U.S., resulting in a net reduction in the number of Mexican illegal immigrants living here.
The reasons are complex. Yes, state and local laws intended to make life unpleasant for illegal immigrants may have had some effect. And no doubt greater border enforcement has made it more difficult for people to cross into the U.S. illegally. But the most significant factor is that conditions in Mexico have improved to the point that many Mexicans see a better future for themselves in their homeland.
Most stories about Mexico in the American media focus on the vicious drug wars that have claimed 40,000 Mexican lives in the last five years. But there is another side of the Mexican story that gets far less attention -- the Mexican economy is booming.
In 2010, Mexican gross domestic product grew by more than 5 percent and is on pace to nearly match that rate this year. In the fourth quarter of 2010, manufacturing grew by more than 6 percent and construction by more than 4 percent over the previous year. Unemployment in 2010 was 5.5 percent. We'd be ecstatic if the American economy were growing at a similar pace.
All that growth means more jobs for Mexicans in Mexico. But it also means a higher standard of living for those who choose to stay. Family income has increased by 45 percent since 2000. Just as important, Mexican families are also much smaller than they used to be.
Mexico once had one of the highest birthrates in the world. In 1970, Mexican women gave birth to an average of seven children. The number of children born to Mexican women averages about two now, which means there are -- and will be in the future -- far fewer job-seekers than in the past.
Other social improvements bode well, too. Educational opportunities have greatly expanded in Mexico. A recent New York Times story tells of how one area, the state of Jalisco, which once sent many of its young men north in search of opportunity, now provides a chance for them to succeed at home.
The number of secondary schools in Jalisco doubled in the last decade -- as they have in other Mexican states, as well, including in Chiapas, one of the poorest areas in the country. The number of Mexicans who have at least a bachelor's degree has doubled in the last decade and now is over 800,000.
American immigration has always been driven by a push-pull phenomenon. Bad economic prospects pushed people to leave their native lands, and the lure of plentiful, well-paying jobs here have pulled them to the United States. But the process has reversed. Fewer Mexicans feel pushed from their own country thanks to improved economic conditions there, while the weakened U.S. economy has eliminated the pull of American jobs.
Perhaps this turn of events will prompt politicians to tone down the illegal immigration hysteria and enact a sane, market-based immigration policy. America still needs immigrants -- they are a major reason for our economic vitality. But they should come legally, if we'd let them.
We need to expand the number of legal immigrants to the United States and do it in a way that benefits our economy. We need both highly skilled workers and those with lower skills but a strong work ethic to take jobs where we have labor shortages today.
We have too few engineers, doctors and scientists -- and many of those we're training in our universities are foreign-born with no prospect of being allowed to stay here after they graduate. But we also have too few workers in some lower-skilled occupations. Even with unemployment at 9.2 percent, Americans aren't lining up to take jobs picking lettuce or working in poultry processing plants.
Now that the illegal immigration problem is receding, it's time to get on with legal immigration reform.
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Jeff Lundholm
How can the case be made that in the face of a 9.2% American unemployment rate (close to %20 by some unofficial accounts), we need more legal immigrants? That is a ridiculous assertion.
Posted July 15, 2011 at 9:05:56 AM
Jeremy
"We have too few engineers, doctors and scientists -- and many of those we're training in our universities are foreign-born with no prospect of being allowed to stay here after they graduate."
This is simply not true. I teach computer science at a major university in California. A sizable percentage of my undergraduate students are non-citizens and the vast majority of my graduate students are not citizens. I know of no case where a student graduated and could not stay in the U.S. Sometimes they need to jump thru a few hoops, delay graduation, etc., but all who want jobs here (which is almost all of them) find them. The few who leave do so for better opportunities in their home country and/or for family reasons.
Is this legal immigration a good thing? I think so. It's easy to say that these people are taking jobs from Americans, but the fact is that there are not enough Americans willing to study these hard subjects to meet the demand. Go to a local university and drop in on a computer science class. Then stop by a psychology class. American students dominate in the wimpy subjects, and are scarce in the hard subjects.
Some would argue that this situation would change if we were to keep out the foreigners, in which case salaries might rise and attract American born students. I don't think so. In my field, salaries and job opportunities are already quite good, but few American born students are willing to take advantage.
So, I'd suggest that people not confuse legal immigration with illegal immigration. Legal immigrants tend to be high skilled, highly educated, and add immensely to the wealth of the nation. Illegals are a completely different story. If we'd enforced our borders, keeping out low-skilled, poverty-stricken illegals, and instead allowed a larger flow of skilled legal immigrants, the country would be infinitely better off today.
It's insane to import poverty from Mexico, when we have the opportunity to import exactly the skills and brainpower that are needed for a modern economy. The fact that "only" 100,000 illegals enter when it used to be 500,000 should not comfort anyone. An uptick in the U.S. economy and/or a downtick in the Mexican economy would put us right back where we were.
Posted July 15, 2011 at 11:12:48 AM
MoeLarryCurly
Where do the author's numbers come from? ICE? Didn't ICE have the Border Patrol stand down on most of the arrests of illegals? Are these numbers a result of the ICE mandate to the Border Patrol?
Posted July 15, 2011 at 1:06:56 PM
Merry Colin
This woman is as stupid as a stump if she thinks the people at PP believe her garbage! I LIVE in Arizona and this biatch is telling lies just like the SOB we have in the WH.
Hey Linda--- try going here and SEE what these scumbags have done to our state. Where is the EPA on this one?
http://www.marstonchronicles.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=490&Itemid=1337.
The pictures are undeniable; even a libtard like you can get it IF YOU CARE TO! When there are signs posted by the federal gubmint a full 60 miles inside OUR border telling us is is dangerous to be there and to stay out, I say it's time we rise up and defend our own borders, State by State. We don't need your, or the federal gubmint's lies, to tell us what's happening in OUR State. You are a liar, plain and simple. No debate is warranted.
Posted July 15, 2011 at 1:39:02 PM
Richard Ryan
Linda`s last name,Chavez,tells it all.She needs to go south and live with her uncle Hugo.
Richard Ryan
Lamar,Missouri - Birthplace of Harry S Truman
Posted July 15, 2011 at 1:55:32 PM
Brittanicus
SLIGHT OF HAND..?
This is an urgent red flag day warning for all patriotic activists as President Obama is flying under the radar in a bid to stay any prosecutions of Illegal aliens. In a directive memo to ICE Field Office Directors, Special Agents-in-Charge, and all Chief Counsels are NOT to deport illegal aliens, unless they are violent felons.
Now that he has lost the fight to push an illegal immigration amnesty through Congress, he's trying to win it by bypassing Congress altogether! Last month, a memo written by ICE administrator John Morton, an appointee of Pres. Obama, was leaked to the media. This order amounts to a Backdoor Amnesty for millions of Illegal Aliens who have no legal right to be in the U.S. Obviously, this order is flying in the face of decades of clear federal law. When the Labor department statistics indicate there are 13 million US born Americans and legal residents out of work, how can he possibly validate any order as this?
The memo states that illegal aliens are not to be pursued if they meet any of 19 factors, including:
* Serves the community, or
* Has a job, or
* Graduated from high school, or
* Has a relative in the U.S. military
* Just to name a few points
How many illegal aliens do you think can be fit into one of those 19 classes! And these are only 3 of the 19 conditions that protect illegal aliens from being prosecuted by ICE personnel. This Backdoor Amnesty can be reversed! Even Pres. Obama wasn't brazen enough to issue all these illegal aliens work permits or citizenship papers. We can turn back the clock, and we're determined to do so.
Stepping up again to champion common sense is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the man who leading on H.R. 2164, which is the 50-state mandatory E-Verify bill. Chairman Smith has introduced a bill that can change the situation!
Smith's new HALT Act blocks the Obama Backdoor Amnesty. The details are a bit complicated, but in brief the HALT Act would:
* HALT the Obama Administration from canceling the removal of illegal aliens.
* HALT the Obama Administration from granting work authorization to aliens on a discretionary basis.
* HALT the Obama Administration from issuing extended voluntary departure to removable aliens.
Of course, we all assume that Pres. Obama would veto the HALT Act if it came to his desk. The purpose of the bill is to at least get the U.S. House on record to create a highly general public showdown in which the President would most likely be humiliated into backing down.
1) We have to guide H.R. 2164, the 50-state Mandatory E-Verify bill, safely through the House and Senate, AND
2) We've got to reverse Obama's Backdoor Amnesty. No Backdoor Amnesties! No states without E-Verify protection! No more giving away American jobs to illegal aliens!
After the recession is over, a need for agricultural workers could necessitate a uniform, expedited legal means to hire migrants with a tracking system. Mexico has a tracking method for all persons entering their country, while on the other hand the US has millions of visa overstays who have not returned to their originating country. As of now there is a poorly organized system that estimates 40 percent of tourists, students and others overstay their visa departure dates. Learn the facts, not rhetoric at NumbersUSA.
At this time, we certainly must reduce--ALL--immigration, when we have a $14.5 Trillion dollar federal deficit. Incidentally, what about the 20 million plus already here? Does that population figure not count, when the liberal press and the open border zealots try to convince us illegal immigration to the US has fallen off?
No more stealth amnesties must be passed; 6 small amnesties have found passage since the 1986 Simpson/ Mazzoli bill, with a million or more foreigners entering America legally each year. The United States will never say “No’ to educated highly skilled professionals like Engineers and Scientists, but here we must draw the line. Right now without secure border, lax federal and State laws, we have been invaded by ECONOMIC illegal aliens that are depleting this countries entitlement systems.
Join a local Tea Party near you, as there are now thousands of branches near you, ready to welcome any citizen or legal resident American, without any prejudice against a person religion or racial background.
Posted July 15, 2011 at 4:55:30 PM
Don Davison
AND THE SOUL?
Where are the Mixtec, Tarahumara,
Aztec, Toltec, Chichimec and Lacandón warriors?
Where are the Mayan warriors and the others?
Who will defend the children, the mountains, the plains,
our bodies and our souls from the violators?
The moaning is becoming stronger,
the torture is almost complete.
We have lived with examples of thieves
from time immemorial.
Now the time has arrived,
listen well to the messages of the winds of antiquity:
The Patrón has become the thief.
He has taught us how to be thieves with everyone.
Where are the warriors of virtue?
Apparently, common and mundane virtue
is born of the sacred aspect of money.
It’s obvious, isn’t it?
No, my children, no!
From the parabola of statistics comes the Truth:
Everything lies between the X and the Y!
In each group there is someone who knows
and can say,
“No! No longer!”
Who is going to teach the children?
Who is going to stop and say, “No longer!”?
We have let them glorify evil, the low life of the spirit.
May the warriors of the spirit come!
Listen, everyone,
“Not any longer!”
We are all bastards and what difference does it make?
the time when we were in our tribes.
All of this was before there were priests,
before religions,
long before governments.
Listen!
There is no one who commands,
except the Truth.
And from the mountains of the Sierra de la Silla,
the mountains of Jalisco,
the mountains of Puebla and the mountains of Oaxaca,
comes reverberating the reparations
of Popocatepetl and Ixtacihuatl.
From the bubbling of the springs of all of the mountains
the message gushes forth,
carried in the voice of the past.
It comes crying, “Where are the warriors of the Truth?”
The peso is now worthless.
Who is responsible?
We are all responsible!
We have all been standing,
watching, while they bribe the Mexican people.
And although we no longer have any blood,
we still have sweat.
We are Mexicans to the bones!
They have stolen from us until there is no more meat,
but we have these bones!
From these bones we will make soup
and with this we will feed the soul,
the soul of the Truth.
May the warriors rise from their tombs!
Listen between the lightning bolts,
the voices of our ancestors,
they come screaming through the pine needles.
Where are the Mixtec, Tarahumara,
Aztec, Toltec, Chichimec and Lacandón warriors?
Where are the Mayan warriors and the others?
There is no Subcommander of anyone!
There is no Patrón of anyone!
There is no Government of anyone!
The only thing that remains is the human person,
with the soul shining,
brilliant with the Truth and responsible for itself.
From the north to the south,
out of the Sierra Madre
comes gently to the ear, the Truth! the Truth!
The time has died when we blame “the Others.”
The hour has arrived for a populace that knows the Truth.
Finally, we have a vague, misty understanding.
Now we can hear in the cobwebs of the sepulchers,
from the heart of the pyramids,
now is the time to become owners of the Word:
The Truth! The Truth!
From: Always Extolling: A Collection
Posted July 15, 2011 at 5:03:11 PM
David S. McQueen
Linda Chavez wrote, "Americans aren't lining up to take jobs picking lettuce or working in poultry processing plants."
That's right, Linda, because Americans are here LEGALLY, speak English and have the education, experience and training that ILLEGAL ALIENS do not have. Why would anyone pick lettuce when they are skilled in some other vocation?
The lettuce pickers are UNSKILLED, here in violation of federal law and do not speak English. In your prejudiced point of view, however, you would equate the two groups as equals.
You, Linda, are a racist and a bigot.
Posted July 16, 2011 at 6:51:10 AM
George
You want to hire Americans and reduce skilled immigration. No problem! Write to your congressmen to stop the big education budget cuts under the gang of six proposal. Huge cuts in education, means more teacher layoffs, under prepared students, more dependence on foreign students and more skilled immigration. Dont see any antis fighting the layoff of American teachers and shortchanging our students!
Posted July 21, 2011 at 12:41:12 AM