Yah. For all of you expecting consolation about Rosie, I got nothing. She's great though, and I took her side against that horrible man Donald Trump.
Exciting news for me for next year: I have been named co-editor for the
Beacon's opinion section. Damn. If I'm going to be doing this, I have to stop writing in the passive voice.
What the
hell is White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino wearing? Uggggggly.
Well anyways, when you read this, keep in mind that I like to really focus in on one specific issue when I write a piece. People talk about immigration like it's one issue. I refuse to take on the entire topic of immigration in one column. You can't, and If I did, it would really suck. Here, I have focused on one aspect of immigration: the dog-and-pony show that is the Government of Mexico. Do not try to extrapolate my views on other immigration issues after reading this. You can't, I'm weird. Trust me. Ole'!
Blame Mexico: Illegal Immigrant Flow Facilitated by Corruption Across Border
Of all the “hot button” issues in America today, there are few that provoke the passion and intensity of debate as the issues surrounding illegal immigration. Discussions on the topic cause eruptions of emotion in even the most dormant political minds.
Disagreement pervades every aspect of the issue, even the term by which the people in question are called. While Rep. Tom Tancredo and other conservatives use “illegal aliens,” advocacy groups sympathetic to their cause say “undocumented workers.”
The act of crossing into the United States without a visa or equivalent legal status is, as a matter-of-fact, illegal, but the people themselves are no less “legal” than anyone else. “Illegal” describes the act of entering the United States outside of the parameters of the law, not a state of being.
The term “illegal alien” is a non sequitur. Are there any legal aliens? Are immigrants with working permits or student visas still aliens—but legal? The term is absurd, and suggests that immigrants are less-than-human and are at fault for perpetuating the immigration problem. This is futile. After looking at how the government of Mexico (where an estimated 57% of America’s illegal immigrants come from) is running the country, it should be realized that blaming Mexican immigrants for illegal immigration is like blaming refugees who flee war-torn nations.
Despite collecting only 9.7% of their Gross Domestic Product as taxes (a share of GDP comparable to Haiti), Mexican politicians have been notoriously lavish in self-compensation. Members of the House of Deputies, the lower house of Mexico’s congress, are paid $148,000 a year with an end-of-term “bonus” of $32,000. And why not? The Mexican legislature is in session for six and half months a year—they surely deserve it. (French legislators earn $78,000 and work nine months a year.)
Mexico’s government is among the most corrupt and wasteful in the Western Hemisphere. According to the World Bank, more than half of Mexico’s 104 million residents earn less than $2 a day. Its government, however, is ambivalent to the country’s rampant and severe poverty. With this in mind, the diaspora of Mexicans crossing into America is understandable. In a land where the government exists to serve itself, the people are helpless. The government of Mexico—not Mexicans themselves—is the root of the illegal immigration problem, and should be censured for the betrayal of their countrymen.
Many Americans earnestly suggest that immigrants find a job back in Mexico. That would be nice, but commerce in Mexico has been so bogged down by bribes and corruption that this prospect is optimistic at best. According to the Mexican Private Sector Center for Economic Studies, an estimated 34 percent of businesses made “extra-official” payments (totaling $11.2 billion) to legislators and bureaucrats in 2004. In America the question is how raising the minimum wage will affect hiring decisions. In Mexico, the question is how bribes will.
Characterizing illegal immigrants as bloodthirsty criminals is popular, but it is not supported by the facts. Harvard Professor Robert J. Sampson observes that “immigrants, illegal aliens, are disproportionately less likely to be involved in many acts of deviance, crime, drunk driving, any number of things that sort of imperil our well-being.”
In order to escape the privation of their native land, many Mexicans have crossed illegally into the United States. They seek a way to make money to support a family or look for a start at life on their own. Former President Vicente Fox explicitly encouraged illegal immigration to the United States, and used government funds to publish an illustrated pamphlet guiding Mexicans, step-by step, through the border-crossing process.
Perhaps the current administration of Filipe Calderon will realize their responsibility to their people—government accountability and economic solvency—instead of passing out picture books with a treasure map pointing north.
Mexico is not a part of the United States of America, but for better or worse, the countries are neighbors and are undeniably linked. Without serious reform in Mexico, immigration reform will never be “comprehensive.” It is imperative that the international community—led by the United States—demands Mexico begin governing for the people, not for their corrupt, selfish, money grubbing selves.
