Immigration Laws: January, 2004 - Number #04

Mexican leaders continued to press the US for a migration agreement that would legalize some unauthorized Mexicans, open new guest worker channels for Mexicans to work in the US, and reduce the deaths of migrants attempting to enter the US at the border. In contrast to his predecessor, who asserted in 2001 that the Mexican government wanted the "whole enchilada" in a migration agreement, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said in October 2003 that Mexico sees "... a migration accord [as] a series of necessary actions... achievable in the short, medium and long term."

Derbez, a graduate of Iowa State University, in November 2003 complained of increased deaths on the Mexico-US border, and said that, if there is no change in policy, smugglers would gain the upper hand: "The process of passing people into the U.S. is a very serious issue in terms of organized crime. It is dangerous and goes against the security in both nations." In December 2003, Derbez said Mexico has "many more people than jobs " so that a migration agreement "would be the formula to finding the normal balance of demand and supply in the two markets."

Mexican President Vicente Fox wants the rights of unauthorized Mexicans to be respected in the US, so that "those that work with decency, who contribute to the competitiveness of the American economy, who support the growth of the United States, so they can do their work without obstacles and with dignity." Mexico's ambassador to the US, Juan Jose Bremer, said "in the medium term, Mexican migratory flow will decrease as a result of our economic development and demographic slowdown. However, due to US demographic factors and the growing economic interdependence between our two countries, the contribution of Mexican workers to the US economy will still be needed for the foreseeable future."

Mexican leaders are frequently in the US, and their actions on behalf of US migrants have won praise from migrants but criticism from some US leaders, who say that Mexico is trying to export to the US problems it cannot solve at home.

Mexico's 45 consulates in the United States have issued 1.5 million matriculas to mostly unauthorized Mexicans in the US, which enable them to board airplanes and open bank accounts. Governors of 21 Mexican states wrote to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to reconsider the decision to repeal the driver's licenses for unauthorized foreigners; they said that 14 US states accept matriculas for identification to obtain driver's licenses.

Migration. Mexico-US migration has been marked by growth and dispersion. There are more Mexicans in more parts of the US than ever before for reasons that include legalization in 1987-88, little enforcement of employer sanctions, and border control policies that make it harder to get into the US but, once in, discourage circulation back to Mexico.

About nine percent of the persons born in Mexico are in the US. They come from all educational groups, but the highest percentage of migrants is from the group with a secondary school education. In 2000, five percent of Mexicans with less than a primary school education were in the US; nine percent of those with a primary school education; 15 percent of those with a secondary school education; and 11 percent of those with a college degree.

President Vicente Fox welcomed home returning Mexicans at the Mexico-US border, continuing a practice begun after his election in 2000. According to Mexican officials, one million Mexicans in the United States return to Mexico for Christmas each year.

With the increased difficulty unauthorized Mexicans have crossing the border, more are staying longer in the US: Tijuana-based Colegio de la Frontera Norte says that the average length of stay in the US for unauthorized Mexicans rose from 52 weeks in 2001 to 70 weeks in 2003, and that 450,000 unauthorized migrants settled in the US in 2002.

Politics. Mexico collects 12 percent of its GDP in taxes, well under the 20 to 30 percent common in countries with similar levels of income. Fox proposed a major tax reform in November 2003 that would have lowered the value added tax (VAT) from the current 15 to 10 percent, but extended it to currently exempt food and medicine- these exemptions have encouraged widespread re-classification of goods to be food and medicine to escape taxes.

The opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, which has a majority in Congress, refused to support Fox's proposal, and ousted a PRI Congressional leader who supported Fox. Mexico finally adopted a budget of $147 billion for 2004, making government spending a quarter of its $630 billion GDP.

The Mexican economy has barely grown since Fox took office in 2000, ending 71 years of one-party rule by the PRI. Candidates are already lining up for summer 2006 elections, and Mexico City's mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a member of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), has become the country's most popular politician. He is being likened to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, a politician who can run from the left and govern from the center.

Remittances. The Inter-American Development Bank in October 2003 projected that remittances to Mexico would reach $14.5 billion in 2003, including $12 billion sent via official channels, and that a quarter of Mexicans would benefit directly from money sent home. First Data Corp.'s Western Union charges $9.99 to send up to $300 overnight from the US to Mexico.

Another study estimated that 40 percent of adult Latino immigrants in the US -six million people- send money regularly to Latin America, a total of about $30 billion in 2003, up from $10 billion in 1996.

Global Medical Staffing (www.gmedical.com) aims to recruit 3,000 Mexican nurses for US jobs; the wage gap for nurses is about 7 to 1, $3,000 a month in the US compared to $400 a month in Mexico.

China is emerging as Mexico's number one economic competitor. In order to retain and create jobs, economists say that Mexico must shift from low-skilled assembly work to higher wage manufacturing jobs. Mexico runs a big trade deficit with China, almost $6 billion in 2002. Duty-free entry of Chinese goods into the US, and then their smuggling to Mexico, is believed to increase the trade deficit, with some estimating that half of the clothes and shoes sold in Mexico are made in China. In 1994, Mexico had a $2 billion trade deficit with the US; in 2002, it had a $35 billion surplus in US trade.

Land. Mexico's 800-mile long Baja Peninsula is becoming a virtual American colony. The Mexican constitution prohibits foreigners from owning coastal land, so most Americans buy land through a trust administered by a local bank. Some 600,000 Americans live in Mexico. Fonatur, the federal agency that promotes tourism in Mexico, hopes more will move into planned developments in Baja.

Mary Jordan, "Mexico Now Feels Pinch of Cheap Labor," Washington Post, December 3, 2003. Nick Anderson and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Support Grows for Bill to Aid Farm Migrants," Los Angeles Times, November 1, 2003.