In May 2004, Mexican Minister of Economy Fernando Lopez Clarion met city business leaders, among them Tom Frost, Javier Smith (Association de Empresarios Mexicanos), Berto Guerra (SBC communications), Abraham Dubrovsky (International Bank of Commerce), and Blake Hastings (San Antonio Free Trade Alliance), behind closed doors at a North American Free Trade Agreement event in San Antonio. Among other things, he testified that Mexico cannot produce sufficient jobs to satisfy population increases. In response, he explained, many Mexicans look to the United States for jobs.
However, there is a set amount of visas granted yearly for immigrants wishing to enter the U.S. Usually, those with money are given precedence. This set amount vastly underestimates the amount of workers trying to earn honest pay by getting a job in America. Therefore, many turn to illegal immigration. Several legislatures have tried to deprive illegal immigrants of many social services, to revoke undocumented immigrants’ drivers’ licenses and to make medics report patients’ illegal status to authorities. President Bush recently proposed a program that would increase quotas of temporary work visas to those with illegal status, while still limiting the number of permanent residencies granted.
Many Mexicans leave their families to pursue the American Dream of social and economic stability, a pursuit fraught with danger. The trip itself is risky—immigrants face the difficulty of crossing the river and the possibility of being caught—and once here, many might take up board in a poor, rundown, crowded apartment and live in fear of the “migra” (immigration officers). The immigrants also start jobs.
Quite often, though, these are jobs that nobody wants–maybe in a factory or as a janitor, and very often in agriculture, but quite often, these are jobs which nobody wants. Illegal immigrants don’t steal our jobs. Although our economy currently starves for more job creation, most of us want better pay and benefits than are offered by the jobs immigrants are forced to take.
These immigrants can work now, earn honest wages, and feed their struggling families in Mexico. However, once here, they usually face greed and extortion. Too many employers grossly underpay immigrants and willfully place them in dangerous conditions, knowing full well that the workers can’t complain without papers. Their bosses capitalize on their fear of the migra and the police—in Mexico the police usually represent people’s worst enemy—and threaten to report them if they don’t keep their mouths shut. Some argue that honest citizens must not waste dear tax money on these workers’ health care. This argument doesn’t hold, though: fear usually defeats pain, and most illegal immigrants are too scared to go to a hospital even if they need it.
Americans–lovers of peace, freedom, and tacos–have we forgotten where we come from? Wasn’t America formed as a refuge? Africans, Germans, British, French, Jews, Hindus, and among many others, especially Hispanics have contributed to our culture. Where would we be without our fajitas and chalupas and the Chihuahua with the accent on the old Taco Bell commercials? Where would our economy be without the millions of dollars spent here by Mexican tourists? America is the land of opportunity, and if they are willing to work for it, let them in.
Especially as Jews, we must see the necessity of welcoming workers with open arms. Indeed, quotas are not new in the U.S.; they were used to prevent Jews from escaping pogroms and the Holocaust. Our history is of perpetual immigration and we are witnesses to the struggle for survival in this world. We can’t forget others whose experience is the same.
