22 Jun CFR Report on Challenges for a Postelection Mexico
22.06.06
|
1 Comment
The Council on Foreign Relations has just released a report on Challenges for a Postelection Mexico. It takes a very cautious approach to any proposal for significant change on immigration and encourages a more aggressive approach to trade promotion for Mexican products. The focus of the report includes direct assistance to Mexico as a mechanism to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the United States. Here are some of the top policy recommendations in the report:
- The United States should no longer entertain the possibility of negotiating a bilateral migration agreement with Mexico. Determining how to control its borders is an internal U.S. policy decision and one that U.S. citizens and their representatives are currently unwilling to share with their southern neighbor.
- The U.S. Congress must realize that there is no quick fix to illegal migration. It is logistically impossible to forcibly remove a significant number of the 6 million plus Mexicans living illegally in the United States.
- If the United States is serious about reducing migration from Mexico, it should help Mexico create the 500,000 new jobs each year to employ its would-be migrants. The United States must accept the fact that its southern neighbor is a developing country, even if an advanced one, that would benefit from assistance in its efforts to employ a rapidly expanding workforce.
- The key to helping Mexico is not aid but fairer trade. The United States must stop insisting that Mexico accept subsidized agricultural exports like chicken and corn. It must stop blocking imports of Mexican goods that are more competitive than U.S. products (tuna and citrus, for example) and allow Mexican truck drivers to compete fairly with their U.S. counterparts.
- The United States should redouble current efforts to help Mexico build its law enforcement capabilities. The lack of security for foreign investors and Mexico’s limited ability to deal with the drug cartels is a direct threat to U.S. interests.
Greetings Professor Alford.
From a Mexican perspective, it would be interesting to see exactly how the US government plans on helping Mexico create new jobs…..I do not envision how this can help reduce the illegal migration.
Also, I must add that US manufacturers based in the Mexican border region(maquiladoras)create enough employment opportunities that are taken by the people that reside in this area. However, the problem is not solely based on lack of employment but specifically on the salaries paid by this manufacturing plants and, generally, on the government authorized minimum wage; therefore, people that come from south of Mexico, who have left their entire families behind, do not settle for these jobs as the salaries are really miserable (between $5 to $10 USD per day) and thus illegaly migrate to the US where, as we know there is a very high demand for cheap hard labor.
As to finally allowing the importation of Tuna, this, in my opinion definetly reactivate the Mexican Fishing Industry which has been under a slump ever since the beggining of the “Dolphin Safe” days. This will allow for the creation of 80,000 + new job opportunities and it will also create specialized employment as the new fishing technologies will be introduced to comply with US required standards. Unblocking the Importation of other agricultural goods will also aid as agriculture is Mexico’s main economic activity (corn being one of the most highly produced goods). This again will create more job opportunities, but salaries will most likely remain the same.
Public Safety is a BIG issue. Tis problem is twofold (1) Law enforcement agencies lack everything one would expect a police agency should have (CSI technology, forensic science experts, comittment from their agents), therefore solving a crime is not as easy as one can imagine…there are a lot of high profile crimes that never get resolved, (2) police officers and agents are not compensated well enough and there is no proportion in their salaries with the risk that they are exposed to every day, hence, corruption is a big problem that adds up to the lack of security since very offten the good guys are badder than the bad guys.
Bottomline, the US can aid Mexico in creating job opportunities, the problem is that the average JOSE will still be tied to the miserable minimum wage that cannot even feed a household of 2, and its the average JOSE the one the migrates to the US for a better salary. There has to be a mutual commitment between the US and Mexican governments so both countries can pinpoint this issues and address each one independetly in order to reach consensus since as we can see both countries have a fair share in this problem…..
Cheers,
Victor Ruiz