-By Frank Salvato
As the debate over the issue of immigration reform rages, we would all be wise to examine, honestly, the reasons why more Mexicans emigrate to the United States than die in Mexico each year. While the common argument is that they come here seeking work, the true root of the problem is that the Mexican government has allowed corruption to reach such alarming levels – in both government and business – that the average Mexican cannot survive within the borders of his own country.
The above statement is not an exaggeration. In 2006, 559,000 Mexican nationals emigrated from Mexico to the United States while the Mexican Demographics Agency reported a total of 501,000 deaths among Mexico’s population. The question that begs to be asked regarding the massive emigration is why?
Mexico is a country rich with natural resources. With its wealth of petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas and timber, it has all the resources a country would need to keep it from becoming a destitute Third World country.
Further, the median age in Mexico is 25.6 years of age and the literacy rate for the total population is at 92.2%. This demographic, combined with their abundant natural resources and central location in the Western Hemisphere, are a perfect catalyst for an employment sector that would – under normal circumstances – compete on the First World economic stage.
According to a recent report produced by the World Bank titled, Democratic Governance in Mexico: Beyond the Capture of the State and Social Polarization, a majority of the identifiable problems facing the Mexican economy are directly related to bureaucratic corruption. From the “untouchable” special interest monopolies that stifle the competitive environment to the ineffective and corrupt tax system that feeds the status quo, the Mexican government has consistently refused to do the hard work of governmental and economic reform, instead opting for short-cuts that allow corruption to thrive.
A byproduct of these short-cuts is that they allow the corrupt special interest robber-barons to run roughshod over the Mexican economy, facilitating an economic environment that encourages the mass emigration of Mexican citizens to the United States. In essence, the Mexican government, through its lack of courage to engage in governmental and economic reforms, which would strengthen its economy to the benefit of its citizens, is exporting its most crucial economic problems – unemployment and an impoverished citizen class – to the United States.
The Embassy of the United States for Mexico lists the amount of US foreign aid received by Mexico through USAID in 2004 for its development assistance, child survival and health programs and economic support at $33 million. This on-average annual and re-occurring aid package comes on the heels of a stunning $20 billion 1995 US aid package that helped to avert a monetary (peso) crisis of global proportions.
At the same time that massive amounts of US taxpayer dollars are allocated to the corrupt Mexican government through US foreign aid, the same taxpayers are shouldering the burden of Mexico’s impoverished citizen class right here on American soil.
Putting aside the fact that each and every Mexican national who has illegally entered the United States has broken US law and that the common argument that illegal Mexican border-jumpers are simply “doing the work that Americans won’t do” (a canard aimed at portraying the employers of illegal workers as the victims of a generation of American slackers), the impoverished Mexican population residing in the United States physically drains resources from the US economy.
The Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform cites statistics provided by The National Academy of Sciences that tally the fiscal cost of illegal immigration – specifically from Mexico to the United States – at $226 per household or over $20 billion. These costs culminate through taxpayer funded education, healthcare and an array of entitlement programs.
In addition to draining taxpayer dollars from a system built to support the economically compromised among the American citizenry, much of the unlawful wages paid to illegally employed Mexican nationals is sent back to Mexico.
According to a 2003 report by The Financial Times, figures released by the Bank of Mexico show that by June of 2003 over $6.13 billion in remittance was successfully transferred from the United States to Mexico. Today, because of the additional influx of Mexican nationals illegally entering the United States since 2003, logic mandates that this amount is much higher.
As American taxpayer dollars pour out of the United States and into Mexico, additional taxpayer generated revenue is used to financially support Mexican nationals here illegally, even as they facilitate the transfer of this ill-gotten wealth out of the US economy. Meanwhile, American lawmakers, blinded by political opportunism, propose opening the doors to the financial and political ruin of our country.
In the most recent legislation concocted by our elected officials – gleefully endorsed by our Executive Branch – legislators propose a $5,000 fine and the payment of all back taxes by any “undocumented worker” before they can be cleared for a pathway to citizenship.
It is astounding that this needs to be pointed out: If Mexican nationals here illegally could afford to pay a $5,000 fine and all back taxes (the fine alone works out to be over 53,900 Mexican pesos) they wouldn’t be here in the first place as they would be comfortably ensconced in the Mexican middleclass.
I have stated time and again that I am in favor of meaningful immigration reform. Our country needs an updated 21st Century immigration policy that takes into account the trials and tribulations of the world while we continue to embrace the principle of e pluribus unim.
That said, the currently proposed immigration reform proposal does nothing for the elimination of the problem; all it does is benefit the politicos on the backs of the American taxpayers and at the price of very real threat to our country’s future.
It is imperative that we, the American people, insist that before any immigration reform proposals are proposed, debated or even entertained, that:
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<;i>The federal government first successfully and completely secure our borders.
- Government officials enact policy that ties any future US foreign aid to Mexico and any future trade agreements with Mexico with the reform of their government and economic community.
Then – and only then – should our elected officials tackle the important issue of immigration reform. There isn’t one good reason to have the issues of immigration reform and border security addressed as one. We all need to speak clearly on this point when we contact our elected officials.
American taxpayers would be justified to threaten Election Day revolution targeting both the political opportunists of the Republican and Democrat parties should we see one more penny of our hard earned money lining the pockets of a corrupt Mexican system.
US Immigration reform starts in Mexico City, not in Washington DC.
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Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal . He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us