1. Emigration from Mexico to the US Paul R Earl Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León San Nicolás, NH 66451, Mexico Paul R Earl

2. We can begin by suggesting good references. Best access can be through http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/Benson/ See the Chicano Index, Berkeley: Chicano Studies Library Publications Unit, University of California at Berkeley, 1990-. Other references are: Schorr, Alan Edward. Refugee and Immigrant Resource Directory. 3d ed., Denali Press, 1994, Juneau, AK, Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. 3d ed., Harper & Row, 1988, New York and Chicanas/Chicanos at the Crossroads: Social, Economic, and Political Change. Edited by David R. Maciel and Isidro R. Ortiz. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996. For nationwide cultural impact in the US, see Político. It is free and online: www.politicomagazine.com http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/Benson/ www.politicomagazine.com

3. The total size of Mexican-born resident population in the US in 1996 was about 7.2 million persons. Of this population, legal residents accounted for about 5 million persons, about 0.5 million of whom are naturalized US citizens. Unauthorized migrants accounted for 2.4 million. The annual influx is 300, 000. Among many themes, 7 major ones are: 1/ demographics, 2/ the economy, 3/ politics, 4/ education, 5/ women’ rights or social position, 6/ civil rights, and 7/ health and hygiene. We can barely mention these topics now.

4. Population estimates for 2002 are US 287 and Mexico 105 million, rising to 413 and 151 millions for 2050. Ethnic population data can be obtained since May, 1995 from the the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that sponsored a Supplement on Race and Ethnicity to the Current Population Survey (CPS). See Testing Methods of Collecting Racial and Ethnic Information. Results of the Current Population Survey Supplement on Race and Ethnicity, available from BLS were also summarized in an October 26, 1995, news release, which is available electronically at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ethnic.toc.htm See also http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/96 natcontentsurvey.html http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ethnic.toc.htm http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/96 natcontentsurvey.html

5. The border What is said in this lecture may be opinionated even though the theme calls for restraint and utter objectivity. Thousands of people’s lives are intimately affected by highly controversial shifting policies on a daily basis in a tolerable yet often discomforted position. Basically, Mexican Americans perhaps torn between the 2 nationalities can feel disloyal if migrants are not aided. Recall that this migration involves all Latins, not just Mexicans. Smuggling people into the US by “coyotes” is a longstanding border problem, and drug smuggling is another.

6. Outrage erupted in Mexico recently over revelations that the Mexican government had secretly approved a US Border Patrol plan to use "non-lethal" chemical weapons against undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border. These pepper ball guns use compressed gas to shoot pellets filled with a cayenne- derived powder, which is released on impact and severely irritates the eyes, nose and skin, sometimes causing welts or other serious injuries. A Border Patrol spokesman said these pellets are only used in selfdefense. Hostility is merely part of white supremacy going all the way back to the Klu Klux Clan. A newspaper headline might read “Arizona and Texas vigilantes have joined American Patrol,” a racist club.

7. More on immigration The share of migrants from a Mexican state’s total population varies. It is highest in north central Zacatecas, where 9.7 % of the population had lived or worked in the US. It is 8.3 % in neighboring Durango, 8.2 % in Michoacán and 6.5 % in western Jalisco. In contrast, it is 0.9 % in México City and 1 % in the Estado de México. Has the migrant population marching northwest from South America into California a rural flavor? Have undocumented illegal migrants entering the US been reduced in number by militarization? Apparently not.

8. One reason for the higher rates of poverty, welfare use, lack of health insurance coverage — and the large costs Mexican immigrants impose on taxpayers — is that most Mexican immigrants have little education. The idea can be to improve the situation for Mexican immigrants already in the US by increasing their skills. Increasing migrant skills is about like improving Mexican production. Indeed, like improving Mexico’s EFFICIENCY. Clearly, the success of the millions of legal Mexican immigrants and their children now living in the US is important for their future and for the future of the US as a whole. A significant investment in their future would clearly be in the best the interests of the US.

9. The problem can be finding a decent life for the unskilled, and this is what the latin migrant to the US is trying to do. An even more difficult task may be living decently in his own country. The former US attorney general, Janet Reno had declared, “We will not reduce the flow of illegal immigrants until these immigrants find decent jobs, at decent wages in Mexico. Our best chance to reduce illegal immigration is sustained, robust Mexican economic growth. Free Trade will create jobs in Mexico—jobs for Mexican workers who might otherwise cross illegally into America.”

10. Canada is short of people Canada’s guestworker program started in 1974 involves several Commonwealth Caribbean countries along with Mexico, which is the largest component involving 9,200 workers in 2000. They work for 8 months a year at prevailing wages and live in government-provided lodging. Employers generally choose the workers they want as these have often become an important supply of semiskilled workers. Workers have some protections, but they must remain with the same employer. Canadian labor leaders say the threat of being returned to Mexico stifles workers’ complaints, but these workers find their situation better than they had illegally working in the US. The US guestworker program H2A or another is of course much larger.

11. US farmers anticipating labor shortages have been able to get temporary foreign workers under the H-2/H-2A program since the 1940s. The H-2/H-2A program is a certification program with extensive wage and housing requirements, that is, the border gate stays shut until the US Department of Labor agrees that the farmer has made an honest effort to recruit US workers. Most western farmers do not use the H-2/H-2A program, because they: 1/ do not want to have to hire union workers who may show up in response to required recruitment efforts; and 2/ do not have the required free housing to offer to US and H-2/H-2A workers.

12. The Central American Free Trade Agreement In Dec, 2003, the US completed negotiations for CAFTA with Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Costa Rica withdrew, because of US demands that it open up various service sectors to foreign competition, e. g., telephones. CAFTA includes services provisions promoting the privatization and deregulation of fundamental public services. In addition, CAFTA would remove all tariff barriers in the Central American countries on imported agricultural products. This would allow cheaply grown and heavily subsidized US corn and other basic grains to flood local markets.However, the 5 Central American countries currently produce 2 million tons of sugar annually, more than the US imports.

13. Immigrants from El Salvador include refugees from the revolution in the 70s are high in number, followed by Guatemala and Nicaragua. Their 2004 populations, TFRs, Gross Domestic Products and percent of the labor force in agriculture are given in the table.

14. On Mexico Education raises its head again ! Industrial efficiency and costs are manufacturing concerns within Mexico, just as skills are needed to get a job ANYWHERE. In 2004, Mexico has a population of 105 million with an age structure of 31.6 % at 0-14 years, 62.9 % at 15-64 and 5.5 % at 65 and over. The net migration rate is 14.87 migrants/1000. Infant mortality is 21.69 % deaths/1000 live births. Life expectancy at birth is 75 years. Literacy is at 92.2 %.

15. El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and South American are added to the countries shown on the map.

16. México! No hay dos! There is no duplicate, but there are 2 Mexicos. One is the industrial and often metropolitan north and the other is the indigenous rural south. Rural communication throughout Latin America is very poor, and relates to poor education which in the end reveals an inefficient labor force. Just the opposite is often revealed in the north of Mexico. Low skill levels result in high poverty rates at home, abroad or anywhere. Uneducated means poor, and it can also mean rural, southern, indigenous or Indian. No skill, no job.

17. Latinos from the south Tapachula, Chiapas in the farthest south of Mexico sees much of the Central American influx that is bound for the US. There are 100,000-250,000/yr. This fantastic number is gueswork. Many enter freely and are given shelters and other forms of help. Many are mercenary soldiers (guerrieros). Their accents, manners and expression are distinct, true also for what they know and who they know. Nevertheless, the point is that many emigrants are Latinos other than Mexicans. Over a million Salvadorans live in the US.

18. Please reduce the birth rate radically Mexico realizes it must heavily invest in public education. Its birth rate is dropping like a stone from a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of about 7 children per woman to 2.5, but this reduction is very late and the population is youthful therefore highly productive with smaller familes, yet many more of them. Migration pressure will not drop as TFR drops since the population is RAPIDLY increasing now. Three old families have about as many children as 7 new ones!

19. The Bracero Act and Immigration Reform and Control Act The Bracero Program Public Law 45, 1943 was for the temporary agricultural and railroad workers brought into the US as an emergency measure to meet the labor shortage of World War II. The Bracero Program was also referred to as the Mexican Farm Labor Supply Program and the Mexican Labor Agreement. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) was passed to control unauthorized immigration to the US. Employer sanctions, increased appropriations for enforcement and amnesty provisions of IRCA were the main ways of trying to accomplish its objective. See USDA Bulletin Number 652.

20. Some IRCA consequences Most of the IRCA-affected persons had already been in the US; during the 1990s, and their close family members began to obtain legal status in sizeable numbers. Nearly 1.6 million Mexicans were admitted as legal US residents between 1981 and 1990; an additional 1.5 million were admitted in 1991-95. Beginning in 1995, the number of Mexican immigrants becoming citizens also increased substantially, at least in part because those legalizing their status under IRCA became eligible for naturalization. At the same time, unauthorized migration continued, pointing to weaknesses in IRCA’s enforcement approach.

21. Migrants come from: 1/ West-central core states—38 % from: Guanajuato, Michoacán, Jalisco and Colima, 2/ Northern-border states—21 % from: Baja California (including Baja California Sur), Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, 3/ States between regions 1 & 2—22 % from: Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes, 4/ Interior states—9 % from: the Valle de México, the Federal District, el Estado de México, Querétaro, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala, 5/ Four southern states—8 % from: Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla and Morelos, 6/ Six SW states—2 % from: Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. The states that are the poorest and most indigenous are the least migratory. These states appear above in 5 & 6.

22. Job growth was very rapid between January 1994 and June 1997. The US economy added about 8 million jobs. With Mexican-born workers spreading throughout the US in a period of low unemployment, there was an increased demand for migrant workers, making Mexican migrant workers a permanent feature of US industries. Also, the US is committed to implementing more border and interior controls, to moving 2-3 million adult welfare recipients into jobs, and to creating jobs for the rapidly growing domestic labor force.

23. Sending money home The most important direct impact of migration is the income sent home to Mexico by migrants in the US, (i.e., remittances). In terms of the remittance income they provide, migrants are Mexico’s third leading export after oil and tourism. Also, some return to Mexico who get SS checks if not stolen from the mail. For years most migrants are from the 5 central highland states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas. Then these states receive the most remittances.

24. Adopt a community In the past 5 years more than one million Mexicans have migrated to the north from central and southern Mexico, because the maquilas (border factories) pay nearly 3 times the standard Mexican salary. But since maquiladora wages remain a fraction of those in the US, many workers migrate to the US. The annual turnover rate of workers in the border factories is nearly 100 percent. Border cities are overloaded with crime, drug trafficking, pollution and severe, expensive water and sewage problems.

25. The negative border Data below are from Migration between Mexico and the United States. In a general way, there seem more difficulties planned for illegals and perhaps less for legals. 1./ Number of border patrol officers increased annually for 5 years. 2./ New triple fencing installed between San Diego and Tijuanam. 3./ Entry of legal immigrants and border crossers from Mexico facilitated. 4./ Old border crossing cards removed, to be replaced with new card with a biometric. 5./ Expedited removal is carried out without hearing of immigrants illegally in the US, unless there is a credible asylum claim or 2-year presence.

26. What is there left to say? High emigration since the 1980s, legalization in 1987-1988 and changing hiring practices have made Mexican-born workers significant components of the US food processing, construction, service and manufacturing labor forces. Mexican migration produces economic benefits for the US, but these benefits come at very high costs like those of welfare. The task is to identify the particular benefits and costs of Mexican migration, and to specify which groups gain and which lose.