hat Mexican immigration holds aloft many of its essential industries, and that it does so without hurting employment levels. Throughout the 1990s, the US absorbed 2.9 million Mexican workers (representing 19 percent of the total number of new workers added to the US during the decade) while driving its unemployment rate down from 6.3 percent (in 1990) to 3.9 percent (in 2000) (Paral). The influx of Mexican workers has allowed for US employers to access essential personnel in a competitive and limited labor market. Leaders of industry have reinforced this view, highlighting the importance of Mexican labor in an expanding US economy. In recent years, owners and managers of ôfactories, restaurants, hotels, construction sites, hospitals, orchards, and innumerable other placesö have come forward and explained the depth of their reliance upon a ôcontinued access to immigrant workers, a large portion of whomàcome from Mexico (Paral).ö
Large organizations such as the American Health Care Association, the National Association of Home Builders, and the
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