The forgotton part of the immigration debate

The Bush administration still continues to ignore the closing of the Mexican Border. Remember the signing of the bill for an immigration wall? Has anyone seen the beginning of its construction?

What happens when you have the working force of an entire country leave somewhere else to find work. The economy of the country will certainly suffer. Fathers will leave wives, abandon children and many will end up shacking up with women in the country to which they have gone.

A website by abandoned wifes in Tecapulco Mexico has been set in English pleading for their husbands to return and pleading for Bush to close the borders. Who would have expected this turn of events? Click on the link Wetbacks Wives, Wetback Widows, Wetback Orphans of Tecalpulco, Municipio de Taxco Mexico - Dear Pedro how I miss you. you sai... On the home page is a scanned letter written in Spanish which I have translated below:

I hope upon receiving my letter you find yourself in good health now that it has been five years since you left and we have missed you a lot. I want to ask you to return although I know you went to Los Angeles because your friends convinced you you were going to do fine. I have learned that you cannot leave and you work day and night, and you are constantly vigilant for the immigration patrols that patrol the city of Los Angeles. I am asking you to return to Mexico because we have a little more work here and you don't always have to be watching out for immigration. You will be in your own land which is where your family is who loves and misses you very much. If you return your family will be once again united and together again like before, my brother we love you

Attentively: Your sister Manuela

Return soon

There are a couple of things that struck me about this letter. First, it is evident it is written by a native born citizen so all you naysayers are out of luck as to the authenticity of this letter.

I have been reading Spanish for many years, and the normal orthographic errors that one would find in a letter written by a native born citizen of Mexico with little education are present. I do not know Manuela's age, but it is evident she has not had many years of schooling.

So when Bush refuses to close the border, it is rather selfish on his part. Instead of the Mexicans building the infrastructure in Mexico, the manpower leaves Mexico and Mexico becomes a poorer nation.

My wife is from Nicaragua, and this is similar to what happened after the revolution although in Nicaragua it was the elite that left. After Ortega took power in Nicaragua after the 1979 coup, made possible by the worst president the US has ever had and beloved friend of dictators Jimmy Carter, there was a brain drain. This caused Nicaragua's economy to fall to World War 2 levels from which it has yet to recover.

So the solution is not to bring the Mexicans here, but for them to return to Mexico and build up the infrastructure in Mexico. Mexico has plenty of natural resources that could make them a first world country. Would that not be the most humane of all solutions?

Maybe Calderon might be good for Mexico. We shall see - This is an about face from the way Fox treated illegal immigration

From the Tucson Citizen http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/44040.php

Mexican President Felipe Calderon won't be fighting for migration reform when he meets with President Bush next week. Instead, he will be be spelling out what he intends to do to keep Mexicans at home.
Calderon, who was inaugurated on Dec. 1, has pledged to take 100 actions in his first 100 days in office, many of which represent the first steps toward "curing" Mexico's long tradition of illegal migration to the U.S.
If implemented, his proposals could help transform Mexico from a labor-exporting country with relatively low growth, productivity and wages into an investment-rich, job-producing economy with better living standards for its 107 million people, nearly half of whom still live in poverty.
"We are laying the foundation for a more just, healthy society with better and more equal opportunities for all," he said.
Even a modicum of success for Calderon would improve on the record of his predecessor Vicente Fox, who failed to persuade the United States to accept Mexican guest workers and also could not put in place proposed reforms.



Nice seeing you comment Dave.