Where is our humanity?

There has been so much in the news, recently, about illegal immigration into the United States. I understand some of the concerns, especially after 9/11, but the United States is a nation made up of immigrants. Most of the peoples of the US, today, are here solely because their ancestors immigrated to this country. Those ancestors came here to find a better life - leaving behind their homeland and everything they knew in the hope that they could gain something more substantial. This nation was built by hard-working people from countries from all over the world. What has made America strong, proud, and powerful has been its acceptance of those in need of shelter, food, and humanitarian aid. This country used to welcome the oppressed with open arms; now we build enormous fences and shoot to kill to keep out the unwanted immigrants.

I needed and wanted to know more about why my Mexican neighbors were coming into the U.S. illegally, rather than through the proper channels, so I did a little research. This is a summary of what I found.

Economic incentives
The continuing practice of hiring unauthorized workers has been referred to as “the magnet for illegal immigration.” As a significant percentage of employers are willing to hire illegal immigrants for higher pay than they would typically receive in their former country, illegal immigrants have prime motivation to cross borders.

In 2003, then-President of Mexico, Vicente Fox stated that remittances "are our biggest source of foreign income, bigger than oil, tourism or foreign investment" and that "the money transfers grew after Mexican consulates started giving identity cards to their citizens in the United States." He stated that money sent from Mexican workers in the United States to their families back home reached a record $12 billion. Two years later, in 2005, the World Bank stated that Mexico was receiving $18.1 billion in remittances and that it ranked third (behind only India and China) among the countries receiving the greatest amount of remittances.

Chain immigration
According to demographer Jeffery Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center, the flow of Mexicans to the U. S. has produced a "network effect" - furthering immigration as Mexicans moved to join relatives already in the U.S. The Pew Hispanic Center describes that the recent dramatic increase in the population of illegal immigrants has sparked more illegal immigrants to cross borders. Once the extended families of illegal immigrants cross national borders, they create a “network effect” by building large communities.

US government inefficiencies
Analysts believe that costs, delays, and inefficiencies in processing visa applications and work permits contribute to the number of immigrants who immigrate without authorization. As of 2007 there was a backlog of 1.1 million green card applications, and the typical waiting time was three years.

Trade agreements and government failures
The Rockridge Institute argues that globalization and trade agreement affected international migration, as laborers moved to where they could find jobs. Raising the standard of living around the world, a promise the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, would reduce the economic incentive for illegal immigration. However, governments have not followed through on all of these programs.
The Mexican government failed to make promised investments of billions of dollars in roads, schooling, sanitation, housing, and other infrastructure to accommodate the new maquiladoras (border factories) envisioned under NAFTA. As a result few were built, and China surpassed Mexico in goods produced for the United States market. Instead of the anticipated increase, the number of manufacturing jobs in Mexico dropped from 4.1 million in 2000 to 3.5 million in 2004. The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, which occurred the year NAFTA went into effect, resulted in a devaluation of the Mexican peso, decreasing the wages of Mexican workers relative to those in the United States. Meanwhile, more efficient agricultural operations in the United States and the elimination of tariffs under NAFTA caused the price of corn to fall 70% in Mexico between 1994 and 2001, and the number of farm jobs to decrease from 8.1 million in 1993 to 6.8 million in 2002.

Corruption hurts the economy of Mexico, which in turn leads to migration to the United States. Mexico was perceived as the 72nd least corrupt state out of 179 according to Transparency International's 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, a survey of international business (for comparison, the United States ranked as the 20th least corrupt). Global Integrity estimates that in 2006 corruption cost the Mexican economy $60 billion per year. A survey by the Mexican research firm, Centro de Estudios Económicos del Sector Privado, found that 79 percent of companies in Mexico believe that “illegal transactions” are a serious obstacle to business development.

It sounds to me like the people of Mexico are coming into the United States of America for the same reasons that my ancestors came to America - leaving poverty and hardship in search of a better life. Government inadequacies make it next to impossible to enter legally and the Mexican government encourages it. It seems that checking for immigration papers (as proposed in Arizona) and deporting illegal aliens would only cause a repeat in the cycle and put those deported at risk of injury of death in the very dangerous border towns. It seems to me that there is a problem at the level of paperwork processing that needs to be changed.

I found a U.S. government website with a little history on immigration in the United States.
Immigration and U.S. History
http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/February/20080307112004ebyessedo0.1716272.html

The U.S. government built a very large wall/border in the San Diego area 15 years ago that has caused <1%>5000 deaths.
Operation Gatekeeper, 15 Years Later
Border crossing deaths: human rights violations?
By GENE CUBBISON
Updated 7:11 PM PDT, Wed, Sep 30, 2009Source: Operation Gatekeeper, 15 Years Later NBC San Diego

The 15th anniversary of "Operation Gatekeeper" is being observed with outrage by humanitarian activists on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. They estimate that as many as 5,600 people have died while crossing the border through rugged mountain and desert areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas since the operation was launched Oct. 1, 1994.

"If there was any other policy that the federal government adopted that systematically killed more than 500 people every year ... those policies would be changed quickly," said filmmaker John Carlos Frey, whose documentary "The 800 Mile Wall" is being released in conjunction with the anniversary. Frey's remarks came at a Wednesday news conference held by the American Civil Liberties Union's San Diego & Imperial Counties chapter. "If there were 500 Canadians that lost their lives crossing the border," Frey said, "The policy would be changed. The fact that they are 'no name, no face' people, the deaths continue."

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union released a study of Gatekeeper's effects -- the study was conducted by Mexico's National Commission Human Rights -- recommending that more Border Patrol resources be directed toward search-and-rescue operations and family assistance. The report also calls for "sensible and humane immigration and border policies ... to that end, reforms should provide legal and safe avenues for crossing the border ..." ACLU board member William Aceves explained that passage meant "facilitating the immigration process," not an open border. Added ACLU Executive Director Kevin Keenan: "We certainly are opposed to open borders, as such. We favor the national government's ability to control its borders and to control national security. "That said," Keenan continued, "what we oppose is the U.S., and to a lesser extent Mexico, violating international human rights with a death count that's now well over 5,000."

In response, Peter Nunez, a board member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, called the assertion of human rights violations "ludicrous." "All of these people who try to come in -- and some who die -- have made a choice." said Nunez, a former U.S. Attorney. "They have made a voluntary decision that they are willing to undergo the risk and danger to get out of Mexico, or wherever they're from, and come to the U.S ... Should we feel guilty because Mexico and other parts of the world have failed their own people, causing them to leave? No. I don't think the American people should have any guilt about that."
Source: Operation Gatekeeper, 15 Years Later NBC San Diego

I understand the fears behind those who want to keep the immigrants out, but how can we let our neighbors live next door in poverty and not allow them a chance to have a better life? We like to go to Mexico on vacation and play on the beach, but we won't allow another human the opportunity work to buy food for his family? How can we justify keeping them out? How can we justify shooting them? How can we justify dumping them back into border towns at night, knowing the dangers posed in those towns? How can we sleep at night knowing that they are dying in the mountains and deserts trying to get into our country because they cannot survive in their own? These people are our neighbors. These people are human beings. Where is our humanity?


Well the thing I find most amazing
In amazing grace
Is the chance to give it out
Maybe that's what love is all about
from I'm Not Who I Was by Brandon Heath