Mexican economic growth offers the real answer to our border concerns
As a supporter of John McCain, I regularly encounter conservatives who insist- all evidence and common sense to the contrary- on the silly notion that anything the United States can do by way of enforcement alone will effectively close the border to illegals crossing over from Mexico. Any wall will always have holes, or spots that can be climbed over, and no dedication of money, manpower and other resources on our part is going to hermetically seal the 1,969 miles of border between our two nations. If Mexican nationals are highly motivated enough, they will get over that border- if necessary, on the third or fifth or seventh try- and the childish insistance to the contrary of those who seem to make up a majority of the conservative movement today simply demonstrates their total disconnect from realitity.
So absurd is the notion that it is exceeded in absurdity by very few ideas on the American political scene. One of them is the ridiculous idea that it's logistically possible to round up the illegals already in this country and ship them back to Mexico.
This does not, of course, mean that we don't need to be doing more in the way of enforcement- and perhaps a great deal more. Nor does it mean that we are not justified, in the abstract, in sending back illegal immigrants we catch. But it does mean that an awful lot of Americans need to wake up to the fact that because something ought to be done doesn't mean that it's possible to do it- and that the task of securing our borders, if it's going to be accomplished (do we have a choice?) is going to have to involve a great deal more than merely enforcement.
Without even getting into the controverted issues of guest worker programs and theoretical routes to citizenship for illegal aliens already in this country who voluntarily return to Mexico first, one hint as to a direction a realistic border policy might take is given by an interesting article in this morning's USA TODAY. That article points out that the Mexican economy is, in fact, doing better right now than it has in many years- and that the success of the Mexican economy is the single thing that will most certainly and effectively staunch the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States. If people in Mexico can make a decent wage and house and feed their families in their own nation and culture, without having to abandon their homes and families, they will have no reason to sneak across the border.
This is a good, solid, conservative reaction to the problem of illegal immigration. Attempts to understand and capitalize (so to speak) on the immutable and natural motivations of human nature is as conservative as a hard-headed recognition of, and allowance for, the equally immutable laws of economics- and their profound influence on human behavior.
Perhaps the single most important datum we need to know about the issue right now is the information provided USA TODAY by a Mexican economist:
Anger- very understandable anger- at the degree to which our national sovereignty and security have been compromised by illegal immigration should not cause us to see either Mexico or Mexicans as the enemy. In fact, nothing would be more conservative than to attempt to harness the forces of the free market not only to provide a large part of the answer to illegal immigration by lowering the motivation for Mexican nationals to sneak across our border in the first place, but for the current ambivalent relationship between the two nations to be replaced by an increasing economic partnership that will be of material profit to everybody concerned.
NAFTA and the ideology of free markets brought us this far. Let's not allow short-sided protectionism and xenophobia turn the opportunity the transforming Mexican economy is gradually creating for a mutually beneficial partnership into a pathetic
future in which broken dreams on one side of the border are met by a pathetically unrealistic longing for magical walls and techologically-monitored borders far beyond our capabilities on the other.
Nothing could be less conservative than to turn our backs on prosperity and security for the folly of curling into a ball and imagining that doing so will somehow make us less vulnerable than we are.
So absurd is the notion that it is exceeded in absurdity by very few ideas on the American political scene. One of them is the ridiculous idea that it's logistically possible to round up the illegals already in this country and ship them back to Mexico.
This does not, of course, mean that we don't need to be doing more in the way of enforcement- and perhaps a great deal more. Nor does it mean that we are not justified, in the abstract, in sending back illegal immigrants we catch. But it does mean that an awful lot of Americans need to wake up to the fact that because something ought to be done doesn't mean that it's possible to do it- and that the task of securing our borders, if it's going to be accomplished (do we have a choice?) is going to have to involve a great deal more than merely enforcement.
Without even getting into the controverted issues of guest worker programs and theoretical routes to citizenship for illegal aliens already in this country who voluntarily return to Mexico first, one hint as to a direction a realistic border policy might take is given by an interesting article in this morning's USA TODAY. That article points out that the Mexican economy is, in fact, doing better right now than it has in many years- and that the success of the Mexican economy is the single thing that will most certainly and effectively staunch the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States. If people in Mexico can make a decent wage and house and feed their families in their own nation and culture, without having to abandon their homes and families, they will have no reason to sneak across the border.
This is a good, solid, conservative reaction to the problem of illegal immigration. Attempts to understand and capitalize (so to speak) on the immutable and natural motivations of human nature is as conservative as a hard-headed recognition of, and allowance for, the equally immutable laws of economics- and their profound influence on human behavior.
Perhaps the single most important datum we need to know about the issue right now is the information provided USA TODAY by a Mexican economist:
The brighter economic outlook in Mexico is one reason the number of migrants caught by U.S. border agents has declined 20% during the past year or so, although tighter border enforcement and the slowing U.S. economy also are factors, says Wayne Cornelius, a University of California, San Diego, specialist in Mexican migration.
Continued improvements in Mexico would be good for the U.S. economy, says Eduardo LorÃa, an economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Mexico bought $126 billion in U.S. goods between January and November last year, up 25% since 2004. Mexico likely would continue to buy more if its economy continued to improve, he says.
Reduced Mexican emigration and an increasingly stable government here also could ease turmoil along the U.S.-Mexican border, Krauze says. Immigrant smugglers have brought violence to the U.S. side, engaging in shootouts in the Arizona desert, attacking Border Patrol agents and kidnapping each other's clients on U.S. soil.
"In terms of the tensions that are very evident as far as migration and the turmoil along the border, I would hope that, in a decade, if Mexico continues along this path and begins to see these microeconomic benefits, the United States would see a reduction in those areas," Krauze says.
Anger- very understandable anger- at the degree to which our national sovereignty and security have been compromised by illegal immigration should not cause us to see either Mexico or Mexicans as the enemy. In fact, nothing would be more conservative than to attempt to harness the forces of the free market not only to provide a large part of the answer to illegal immigration by lowering the motivation for Mexican nationals to sneak across our border in the first place, but for the current ambivalent relationship between the two nations to be replaced by an increasing economic partnership that will be of material profit to everybody concerned.
NAFTA and the ideology of free markets brought us this far. Let's not allow short-sided protectionism and xenophobia turn the opportunity the transforming Mexican economy is gradually creating for a mutually beneficial partnership into a pathetic
future in which broken dreams on one side of the border are met by a pathetically unrealistic longing for magical walls and techologically-monitored borders far beyond our capabilities on the other.
Nothing could be less conservative than to turn our backs on prosperity and security for the folly of curling into a ball and imagining that doing so will somehow make us less vulnerable than we are.
Comments