Mexican Immigration & U.S. Economy

The United States of America, in dutifully and aggressively protecting its own interests, has, at times assumed a duplicitous role with its neighbors. Nowhere has this been truer than in regard to Mexico, specifically pertaining to US immigration policy. On the one hand, the US is a champion of free trade; as esteemed social economist Douglas S. Massey has surmised, the US has enthusiastically cooperated with its trade partners in the Western hemisphere particularly Mexico to lower "barriers to the cross border movement of goods, capital, services, raw materials, agricultural products (41)"; in addition, "many kinds of people" also have been permitted to enjoy the benefits of a more open border: "investors, students, exchange visitors, corporate employees, tourists (Massey 41)." However, on the other hand, one group of people and one well-defined market has been conspicuously denied the benefits of integration in the US: the foreign labor market and the workers that comprise it. This phenomenon does a tremendous disservice to Mexican immigrants, without whom the US economy would crumble. A critical component of the labor force in the US, Mexican immigrants have been indispensable to agriculture, the service industry, and manufacturing (among other essential services). Current US laws must be examined and revised in order to accommodate Mexican immigrants and the invaluable services they provide.

The double standard described by Massey is a serious one, for it expos

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ely stem the tide of workers that are the most likely to assume these jobs. As a 2001 study by UCLA's School of Public Policy and Social Research concludes, immigrants, "when taking jobs for which they are better suited�free up natives, allowing them to be employed in more specialized production" (Simons 93, emphasis added). In three big areas: agriculture, manufacturing and the service industry, the trend begun in the 1990s will continue. As the AIFL reports, in 1990, Mexican workers represented 8.8 percent of the workforce in agriculture, 3.3 percent of the workforce in construction (and 3.5 percent of non-durable goods manufacturing), and 4.2 percent of the workforce in the hotel and restaurant industry (Paral). Compare these numbers with those that obtained ten years later. In 2000, Mexican workers represented 15.3 percent of the workforce in agriculture, 8.5 percent of the workforce in construction (and 9.1 percent of non-durable goods manufacturing), and 9.5 percent of the workforce in the hotel and restaurant industry (Paral). These figures represent staggering increases; Mexican workers are representing an ever-increasing portion of essential services sectors, with numbers that are doubling and even tripling in som

Category: Government - M