Immigration Thoughts
Living down here is probably a bit like living somewhere near the Mexican border in the States, the effects of immigration intrude on your everyday life regardless of what you want to pay attention to. Not a day passes here where you don’t notice kids with one or both parents missing, overhear conversations about people who have left, or have someone mention their brother in the States. Also when meeting new people their first question is where are you from? Followed by I have a cousin in Minnesota, is that close? They always want to talk to you about the States, the weather there, what crops people grow, how close is one place to another… Their geography is shaky at best. It is hard to give an idea of the size of the US. Things are far apart in miles, but close in driving hours, whereas here, the opposite is true. As an example, our 16km down to the pueblo is an hour plus trip. They also really have trouble conceiving of a place where so few people don’t have crops to attend to.
Anyway, back to immigration. Once again I should take the time to point out that these are my opinions and not those of the Peace Corps or my government. Something I am not sure people recognize back in the US is that the folks that go “mojado” and immigrate illegally to the US are for the most part not the dregs of society that could find nothing useful to do down here, and so headed north. Rather, the ones that leave are many times the cream of the crop. They are the ones that would go to university if the opportunity really existed for them. They would be the entrepreneurs, the leaders. It makes sense, to take that kind of risk, leaving behind your family and kids, undertake the burden of over $6,000 to $10,000 dollars of debt (current price that you pay a coyote to get you across…prices are increasing due to our increased border security), you have to really have a strong desire to succeed, and a lot of self confidence.
This is the hidden truth, much of what we get in the US are the same types of people that would demand 6 figure incomes in the US, but we get them for peanuts. Sure, they do not have the education that that 6 figure person did, but from the basic aptitude perspective, they have those attributes that make great workers and employees. Their desire to succeed allows them to work long hours at poor pay, as well as do difficult, uncomfortable, taxing jobs. Growing up someplace where you started working in the fields at 4 gives them an advantage in the US, both by having bodies used to hard work and stress, and by having their social values prize physical labor, rather than thinking it a lower form of work.
I think that in the broader sense this is the truth behind the “success” of the US as a whole. We have always had an immigrant population to provide this type of work force. It is the new blood that makes us stronger, ect… So, if we recognize this fact (and I’m sure plenty don’t really agree), then how do we reconcile this with the opposing force of stronger border security. The fact that we are wallowing in our current immigration reform is probably a reflection of this juxtaposition.
Although I am far removed from the current thoughts on immigration reform in the US, I get the occasional Newsweek, and the papers here always have a section on immigration, but I don’t get them much. However, one thing I had heard at some point was a proposal to allow more immigrants who had a good education in some specialty fields, professionals, ect… To me that seems contrary in the extreme. I mean, some of the counters to the loosening of immigration has always been the “theft of jobs”. Won’t these highly educated immigrants “steal” more jobs than ones with less than a 6th grade education? This is aside from the fact that how many of that “flood of illegals” are these professional types? I mean, how does this type of change help stem the tide? If we are going to do anything useful about immigration we have to look to the problem that we really want to solve. We have to look at who it is that is crossing our southern border, why they are crossing, and decide what we really want to do about it. The first thing is we have to admit that there is a huge demand for these folks. I’m sorry, but it is like any market economy, if the demand wasn’t there, they would not be coming across. I am not talking about the push from their lives in a poor economic state, but rather that the employers in the US want them.
If you want to understand this, it is like most things, follow the money. Look who is getting rich from the status of illegal immigrants. It is not the immigrants. These are the groups that are going to be lobbying against some types of guest worker programs, or anything that would reduce the need for illegal workers (such as some increase in a legal type of immigrant worker). Surprise these people are not making their money on educated, professional immigrants, thus no opposition there!
One group that obviously stands to gain from stricter immigration (including tougher physical barriers) are the “coyotes”. This doesn’t even require peeling off a layer and looking deep. It’s ironic that if the border was easier to cross, to the point where there was no profit margin for the coyotes, you “might” see a reduction in immigration (arguable to be sure, but worth thinking about). Coyotes do more than help people who want to leave get across, and set them up with what might be work, and burdened with several years worth of debt. Like any good business, they market! Surprise again, they convince some folks who on their own might never really make the trip. The harder and more dangerous the journey becomes, the more the coyotes can make. But right now our enforcement methods don’t go after the coyotes at all, or at least rarely. It is not that hard to find out who they are (like I said they have to market). Porque? It’s a bit like fighting drugs going after only the abusers, and the prodcers/farmers, while ignoring the cartels… oh wait, we do that to…and why is that?
Ok, I’ve probably gone far enough with this for now. Least you think that this is some sort of a leftist/socialist touchy feely rant… realize that I am more conflicted than ever down here. The real long term solution to immigration problems such as exist here in El Salvador may be to shut our borders tight, make them stay and solve their own problems. Of course, that would mean the people of the US would have to get up off their a$$es and go to work (real work, go pick some tomatoes, milk some cows, sew clothes, plant trees, and clean hotel rooms… and stop watching powerpoint presentations and reading e-mail, and thinking that you are working) as well as pay fair prices for goods and services instead of thinking that you should get something for nothing.
This is all going to come back and bite me when I run for president in 2016. But, what fun is a rant if I can’t make a few folks mad. Besides, anyone that really knows me knows that I really only think that about 50% of what I say is right about half the time…
Anyway, back to immigration. Once again I should take the time to point out that these are my opinions and not those of the Peace Corps or my government. Something I am not sure people recognize back in the US is that the folks that go “mojado” and immigrate illegally to the US are for the most part not the dregs of society that could find nothing useful to do down here, and so headed north. Rather, the ones that leave are many times the cream of the crop. They are the ones that would go to university if the opportunity really existed for them. They would be the entrepreneurs, the leaders. It makes sense, to take that kind of risk, leaving behind your family and kids, undertake the burden of over $6,000 to $10,000 dollars of debt (current price that you pay a coyote to get you across…prices are increasing due to our increased border security), you have to really have a strong desire to succeed, and a lot of self confidence.
This is the hidden truth, much of what we get in the US are the same types of people that would demand 6 figure incomes in the US, but we get them for peanuts. Sure, they do not have the education that that 6 figure person did, but from the basic aptitude perspective, they have those attributes that make great workers and employees. Their desire to succeed allows them to work long hours at poor pay, as well as do difficult, uncomfortable, taxing jobs. Growing up someplace where you started working in the fields at 4 gives them an advantage in the US, both by having bodies used to hard work and stress, and by having their social values prize physical labor, rather than thinking it a lower form of work.
I think that in the broader sense this is the truth behind the “success” of the US as a whole. We have always had an immigrant population to provide this type of work force. It is the new blood that makes us stronger, ect… So, if we recognize this fact (and I’m sure plenty don’t really agree), then how do we reconcile this with the opposing force of stronger border security. The fact that we are wallowing in our current immigration reform is probably a reflection of this juxtaposition.
Although I am far removed from the current thoughts on immigration reform in the US, I get the occasional Newsweek, and the papers here always have a section on immigration, but I don’t get them much. However, one thing I had heard at some point was a proposal to allow more immigrants who had a good education in some specialty fields, professionals, ect… To me that seems contrary in the extreme. I mean, some of the counters to the loosening of immigration has always been the “theft of jobs”. Won’t these highly educated immigrants “steal” more jobs than ones with less than a 6th grade education? This is aside from the fact that how many of that “flood of illegals” are these professional types? I mean, how does this type of change help stem the tide? If we are going to do anything useful about immigration we have to look to the problem that we really want to solve. We have to look at who it is that is crossing our southern border, why they are crossing, and decide what we really want to do about it. The first thing is we have to admit that there is a huge demand for these folks. I’m sorry, but it is like any market economy, if the demand wasn’t there, they would not be coming across. I am not talking about the push from their lives in a poor economic state, but rather that the employers in the US want them.
If you want to understand this, it is like most things, follow the money. Look who is getting rich from the status of illegal immigrants. It is not the immigrants. These are the groups that are going to be lobbying against some types of guest worker programs, or anything that would reduce the need for illegal workers (such as some increase in a legal type of immigrant worker). Surprise these people are not making their money on educated, professional immigrants, thus no opposition there!
One group that obviously stands to gain from stricter immigration (including tougher physical barriers) are the “coyotes”. This doesn’t even require peeling off a layer and looking deep. It’s ironic that if the border was easier to cross, to the point where there was no profit margin for the coyotes, you “might” see a reduction in immigration (arguable to be sure, but worth thinking about). Coyotes do more than help people who want to leave get across, and set them up with what might be work, and burdened with several years worth of debt. Like any good business, they market! Surprise again, they convince some folks who on their own might never really make the trip. The harder and more dangerous the journey becomes, the more the coyotes can make. But right now our enforcement methods don’t go after the coyotes at all, or at least rarely. It is not that hard to find out who they are (like I said they have to market). Porque? It’s a bit like fighting drugs going after only the abusers, and the prodcers/farmers, while ignoring the cartels… oh wait, we do that to…and why is that?
Ok, I’ve probably gone far enough with this for now. Least you think that this is some sort of a leftist/socialist touchy feely rant… realize that I am more conflicted than ever down here. The real long term solution to immigration problems such as exist here in El Salvador may be to shut our borders tight, make them stay and solve their own problems. Of course, that would mean the people of the US would have to get up off their a$$es and go to work (real work, go pick some tomatoes, milk some cows, sew clothes, plant trees, and clean hotel rooms… and stop watching powerpoint presentations and reading e-mail, and thinking that you are working) as well as pay fair prices for goods and services instead of thinking that you should get something for nothing.
This is all going to come back and bite me when I run for president in 2016. But, what fun is a rant if I can’t make a few folks mad. Besides, anyone that really knows me knows that I really only think that about 50% of what I say is right about half the time…
posted by Jon & Katie | 6:14 AM
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