Mexican Money Heads North
It’s not uncommon to hear of Mexican migrants moving to the United States, not only to support a better life for themselves but to provide for their families back home. In fact, based on people I’ve personally spoken with, it seems that the majority of Mexican migrants who have moved to the US support families back home in Mexico, due to the often destitute living conditions of rural Mexican families, strapped for income to eat and survive.
This practice, however, has started reversing.
Unemployment has hit America particularly hard as the global economy continues to drudge through a massive slump, fighting to keep production levels profitable. Because of the national recession, more and more educated career persons and laborers alike are finding themselves out of a job. This goes double-fold for illegal immigrants working in the Southwest United States. The employment problem has gotten so bad that families in Mexico – who were previously being helped by sons, daughters and other family members who had moved to the US for a better life – are actually wiring pesos north.
It’s a sad truth, but many legal and illegal migrants are in such bad shape that they can barely afford to feed themselves, which has driven families to wire money to their relatives in the states. “We send something whenever we have a little extra, at least enough so he can eat,” says Mr. Salcedo, the father of an illegal migrant worker from Oaxaca who has been unable to find work in California.
In order to fully comprehend just how bad the global economic situation is in Mexico, one really has to take a look at the statistics: about 50% of Mexico’s population is impoverished and its already meager economy is slated to decline by 7.5% this year. This puts Mexico in one of the top rungs for “Country Worst Affected By The Global Economic Crisis.” Taking this into consideration, it’s hard to imagine struggling families sending funds north to relatives in the United States.
Will this trend continue? Honestly, the answer is probably yes. Of course, if the global recession suddenly quells and jobs begin opening up in the states, the reversal will likely stop and money will start flowing in greater amounts south, but Hispanic culture places great importance on family, and will likely continue supporting any and all family members, no matter their location, and no matter their own financial situation.
Good reporting. The fundamental problem is that Mexico has been corrupt since Spain entered the scene. We seem to care more about promoting democracy in faraway lands (e.g. Afghanistan and Iraq), than we do our closest neighbor on the southern border, Mexico. We have basically neglected them for years and have benefited from the supply of cheap and illegal labor to man industries (e.g meatpacking) that US Citizens don’t want to do. This is the hidden cost of turning a bllnd-eye to the problem. Supposedly fixed by Saint Ronnie (Reagan) in the 1980’s, the problem has only become worse. Building a fence and hunting the illegals is not the solution — bring democracy and prosperity to Mexico, and the immigration problem will eventually disappear. Instead the right demonizes the very people they indirectly employ, refusing to acknowledge that the Mexican (and El Elvadorian etc) just wants a better life, just like their families who immigrated many years ago. The idea seems to be that america is fine just the way it is now, it’s being overrun by foreigners (each generation raises this complaint, from the Irish (fleeing the potato blight) to the Chinese (to build our railroads), we’ve had a very conflicted attitude towards immigration, accepting the workers but then sometimes kicking them out when we are done with them (the Chinese by imposing a head tax).
Charity begins at home. The payoff and rewards are huge — increased prosperity of Mexico will mean expanding markets for the US.