Posted on 04/29/2010 12:06:09 PM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666
(Actual dumb editorial removed, this is the first comment.)
This take on the situation is so incredibly wrong-headed, I scarcely know where to start. Let me start by saying I´m a former American newspaper editor who retired early at age 55 a decade ago and moved to a mountaintop in the middle of Mexico. I have become a Mexican citizen. My wife is Mexican. I speak Spanish all day long. I know Mexicans. I am one.
Some of my relatives are current or former illegal aliens who stole into the U.S. I also am personally acquainted with others who´ve done the same thing. Each and every one can support himself here in Mexico. Things just look brighter over the border. Who cares if it´s illegal? Nobody down here does.
Most Mexicans live as we did in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. Americans in that time were not poor. They simply did not have Toyota Tundras, plasma TVs, iPods, designer clothes, etc., etc. It was another time, and it´s another time in Mexico. Alas, Mexico is right up against another nation that lives in a separate universe, so to speak. It´s very alluring.
Educational opportunities abound in Mexico, probably more so than in the U.S., and they are affordable, but they are under-utilized due to cultural issues. Jobs can be found. Help Wanted signs are common. Newspapers, especially in their Sunday editions, carry reams of Help Wanted ads, everything from the most humble work to high-tech positions. Anyone with focus and drive can make it in Mexico. Are pay scales low? You bet. Is the cost of living in Mexico correspondingly low? It sure is. That´s important to remember when you´re weeping over people who only make ten bucks a day.
Utilities are incredibly low. Medical care is cheap to sometimes free. Income taxes are usually nonexistent. Many people live in homes their families have owned for generations. Property taxes? I pay ten bucks a year. Think of these elements when you´re moaning about our low salaries.
But the allure of the U.S., especially to the young, is powerful. And the U.S. makes it soooo easy with its refusal to get serious with border controls.
Mexicans, if they wish to move to the U.S., have every right to apply, just like other immigrant hopefuls from around the world. People everywhere want to move to America, and America allows that, but standards are set. There are requirements. Most Mexicans do not fulfill those requirements.
There is no "right" to move to the United States.
What´s most important to understand is that we Mexicans are not going hungry. We do not lack clothes. We are not homeless. We are not sitting forlorn on the desert floor, wasting away. This is not Chad. It is not Rwanda. It´s not even Bolivia. Mexico has one of the best standards of living in Latin America. Sure, things could be better. And the primary problem is cultural. Mexicans are not a cooperative people. They do not trust each other, and trust is the foundation of a vibrant economy. Our attitudes come from our troubled and violent past. We need to get over that, but it´s not happening quickly.
Mexicans are flooding over the U.S. border at an absurd rate, and most are doing it through Arizona. Arizona got fed up, and I don´t blame them. Both the U.S. government and the Mexican government are to blame for the lamentable situation. Americans are sick of it, and are taking matters into their own hands. Thus, Arizona. More states will follow, and not just on the border, if Washington doesn´t get real and address this issue in a meaningful way.
I wonder how many people know that the largest concentration of illegals (especially illegals from Mexico) outside of California is...Illinois! The six-county “Chicagoland” area alone has at least 1.5 million.
Minnesota is on the border. It has a border with Canada. However, few have started sneaking south across that border.
the fact that about 10% of the Mexican population has moved to the US might account for the demand for workers in Mexico.
Same problem here in the Democratic Republic of Illinois.
“I feel your pain.” ;)
These states all have their own illegal immigration laws?
Illinois has more illegal immigrants than any of the states you mention. And we’re nowhere near the border.
It was passed in 2007.
Chased almost all the illegals away.
LOL!
Sure they can. It’s right next to the island of Alaska. ;)
bump
Thanks. Then I really do have to wonder about all the firestorm with AZ, because we’re not even the first to do it.
No, I was just listing states off the top of my head.
Illinois probably has the highest concentration of illegals after the four primary border states.
Do you suppose it’s any coincidence that Illinois also ranked in the top 5 states with home foreclosures?
And number 1 in debt as a percentage of budget.
It’s probably no coincidence at all.
We also have a relativity high number of dead who vote in every election.
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