“Is Illegal Immigration Hurting Mexico?” Let’s Get Our Facts Straight

Published on: Jul 10 2013 by Thomas Lloyd

Mexicans in the U.S.I found an article today that I thought was going to be good, but then I realized was actually really ignorant. “Is Illegal Immigration Good for Mexico?” starts with the interesting (and as far as I can tell, plausible) idea that illegal immigration is also bad for Mexico. But the writer goes wrong on just about every point after that, taking for granted that:

 

Unemployment is high in Mexico. Mexico actually has extremely low unemployment. Underemployment (which means that people have jobs but don’t earn as much as they need to) is a slightly higher problem, but the country’s fairly open approach to small business and community-spending mindset actually makes it very easy to open shop and get an income fairly quickly. This is, of course, one motivation for expats to move to and invest in Mexico as well.

 

Mexico is a third-world country. Has this guy set foot in Mexico or read anything about its economy? It’s one of the largest and strongest growing economies in the world, as well as having modernized in leaps and bounds over the last few decades. I don’t think it counts as “first world” but it’s certainly one of the world’s major emerging economies, now on par with the BRIC giants – and many say it’s now a challenger for places like China and India.

 

Mexico’s economy is growing because money sent by illegals from the U.S. It’s actually manufacturing and tourism. You don’t have to dig too deep to find that information.

 

Immigrants continue to pour into the U.S. illegally. Last year, total immigration (including illegal) was pretty close to zero; this means as many Mexicans are heading back to Mexico as are heading into the U.S. So, no, Mexicans in the U.S. are not the ones holding up the Mexican economy; they are actually heading back home to take advantage of a thriving economy.

 

His main argument is that the U.S. is hindering Mexico by holding the illegals by the hand (by which they support the country’s “faltering” economy, according to the author) and thereby preventing Mexico from finding its own solutions. Sorry, I don’t buy it. Mexico has been doing a great job of finding solutions to many economic problems, including it’s own illegal immigration from Central America. (The U.S. could probably take a few pointers from them.)

So, yes, that article was a big disappointment. I think there could be a great analysis of negative impact on illegal immigration, but this one is just too mal-informed.

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