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 hemisphereùparticularly Mexicoùto lower ôbarriers to the cross border movement of goods, capital, services, raw materials, agricultural products (41)ö; in addition, ômany kinds of peopleö also have been permitted to enjoy the benefits of a more open border: ôinvestors, students, exchange visitors, corporate employees, tourists (Massey 41).ö 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 exposes a sinister fallacy contained within the American ôfree tradeö mantra. By advancing the notion that American borders canùor indeed shouldùbe permeable to all flows except labor, the US is maneuvering to absorb what it perceives as pluses (foreign investment, raw materials, tourists, etc.) while repelling what it feels is undesirable (immigrants). In fact, this assessment reflects not merely a flawed, even immoral policy towards Mexican immigrants,...