|
|
|
 Editorials | Opinions | February 2008 
Mexico's Economy is a Factor in Immigration
 Reno Gazette-Journal
go to original
Mexican President Felipe Calderon unquestionably was right when he recently told a joint session of the California Legislature that the economies of the United States and Mexico are interdependent.
He also was right when he added, "Our nations will never find prosperity by closing their doors."
For most Americans, the problem, as Calderon surely knows, isn't that the doors are open (though some would be content simply to build ever-higher walls between the two countries).
What concerns Americans is the vast majority of the traffic is heading in one direction - north - and most of it occurs under the cover of darkness.
There would be far less rancor in the United States over the large number of workers and families crossing the border if, as Calderon suggested in California, the migration were "legal, safe and organized."
But even less rancor would occur if it weren't happening in such large numbers - if, for instance, the border between the United States and Mexico were more like the border between the United States and Canada.
That's why the long-term solutions to the problems that have roiled the American electorate in recent years do not rest with American policymakers but with those in Mexico.
Numerous countries have tried throughout the decades, but no nation truly can prosper when it is sending its hardest working citizens across the border to find work.
Mexico needs those workers to stay home to build their economy from the ground up. It needs companies that open manufacturing facilities not because they can pay low wages but because of the quality of the workforce and the access to markets. It needs to build the infrastructure and institutions necessary to a thriving economy.
None of that is possible when workers are leaving the country in droves and not coming back, when much of the economy is based on lawlessness, when the only foreigners crossing the border are coming for the beach and to party.
To his credit, Calderon told the California lawmakers he is not one who is glad about Mexicans leaving for the United States, and he has taken steps to improve the Mexican economy.
Mexicans and Americans alike should hope he succeeds. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us