but also a flawed ideology concerning labor. As a matter of fact, the US economy is so heavily dependent upon Mexican immigrant labor that many, including the American Immigration Law Foundation (AIFL), have noted that without Mexican labor, many ôessentialö American industries would founder, pulling the national economy down with them (Paral).
The simple fact concerning Mexican immigration is that Mexican workers are vital to the US economy. As an AIFL study found in late 2002, three indomitable conclusions must be recognized and allowed to inform US policy concerning immigration from Mexico. These three conclusions are 1), that ôMexican workers are integral to US economic growthö, 2), that ôMexican workers are filling needed jobs in new geographic areas,ö and 3), that ônew jobs will not require advanced education,ö and hence will be more appropriate for undereducated Mexican immigrants rather than college educated native-born Americans (Paral).
As John Simons of Fortune magazine attests, the United States and Mexico exemplify a classic push-pull dichotomy. The US, with its comparatively high average wages and demand for service-sector employees, has high pull as it pertains to Mexico, which has comparatively low average wages and a surplus of service-sector workers (Simons 92). That the US fails to account for this push-pull relationship is reflected in its policy; because Mexican immigrants are facing a progressively more militarized border, particularly after September 11, so the US is driving up its immigration-oriented expenses (Massey 42). Not only is the US spending billions of dollars on border enforcement, but also it is also willfully hurting its own industries in the process. This trend is clearly counter-productive and carries a human cost, as excessive border enforcement drives migrants into remote areas where bodily risks are exceedingly high.
Ultimately, it is folly for the US to deny t...