Mexican migration to United States of America Expert Group E: Salvatore Palmieri, Jessika Pintore, Marta Rizzi, Federica Trusgnach

What is illegal immigration to USA? It is violating United States immigration laws entering the country without government permission It is remaining within the country beyond the termination date of a temporary visa

United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 2007: 12 million illegal immigrants in the USA 2012: 11.4 million illegal immigrants in the USA

The Mexican border It extends to four USA states and six Mexican states It starts in California and it ends in Texas Illegal immigrants have to cross a large desert that separates USA and Mexico Mexican border wall

Push factors High crime rates in Mexico (around per people): people have been killed in the past 5 years Unemployment and poverty (47% of the population lives under the poverty line) Climate and natural dangers (arid area): hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis

Pull factors Better living standards and services in the USA Better academic opportunities in the USA: 86,1% of the Mexican population can read and write versus the 99% of the USA population Migrant communities make it easier for people to settle once moved: immigrants want to reach their families

The history of the illegal Mexican immigration The illegal immigration began in the early 20 th century, motivated by labour demands in the USA Since 1980, Mexicans have been the largest immigrant group in the United States Four phases of the illegal Mexican immigration

The first and second phase 1 st phase: before the Second World War Agricultural workers recruited by private labor contractors The number of Mexican immigrants rised from 105,200 in 1900 to 624,400 in nd phase: from 1942 to 1964 Bracero program: the USA signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico (series of laws and diplomatic agreements)

The third and fourth phase 3 rd phase: it began after the end of Bracero program, in 1965 Majority of mexican immigrants were male (seasonal farm workers) 4 th phase: approval of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Legalization of 2.3 million mexican immigrant : 7.5 million Mexican immigrants arrived in the USA

A solution for the immigrantion problem A fence covering the entire length of the boundary (a 1954-mile barrier) Deport the illegal immigrants Make illegal immigrants self-deport

“Deported to Mexico: a lost generation” This article speaks about the children of undocumented Mexican immigrant in the United States. They delete the Mexican memories to replace them with the American dreams because they are tired of living in the shadow of the immigration system with the fear of being arrested at any moment. For the young adults who are grew up in the US and have been deported to Mexico, it is like arriving in a foreign country they don’t know, and this cause traumas for them. But now a network called LosOtrosDreamers (the Other Dreamers) has been created, whose purpose is to fight for this bicultural group. The name of the network refers to the the bill -of the that would have granted the citizenship to those who arrived in the USA as a children. Some “dreamers” were deported but others decided to come back with their family, exasperated by the pain of not living normally. A professor of education at Claremont Graduate University, Dr Perez, did some studies and research. He discovered that the 50% of the “dreamers” interviewed suffer from mental problem as anxiety or depression and the 85% have suffered discrimination from the return in Mexico. The Mexican government has created Somos Mexicanos (We are Mexican) to help returnees. This is possible reintegrating them with the acess to ID paper, healthcare, education and jobs. Thanks to Obama, now 1.5 million “dreamers” are eligible for temporary legal status. Immigrants who are already deportated are ignored, in fact they couldn’t qualify for that legal status. (source: )