Public Opinion in Mexico on U.S. Immigration: Zogby Poll Examines Attitudes

A new survey by Zogby International finds that people in Mexico think that granting legal status to illegal immigrants in the United States would encourage more illegal immigration to the United States. As the top immigrant-sending country for both legal and illegal immigrants, views on immigration in Mexico can provide insight into the likely impact of an amnesty, as well as other questions related to immigration.

* A clear majority of people in Mexico, 56 percent, thought giving legal status to illegal immigrants in the United States would make it more likely that people they know would go to the United States illegally. Just 17 percent thought it would make Mexicans less likely to go illegally. The rest were unsure or thought it would make no difference.

* Of Mexicans with a member of their immediate household in the United States, 65 percent said a legalization program would make people they know more likely to go to America illegally.

* Two-thirds of Mexicans know someone living in the United States; one-third said an immediate member of their household was living in the United States.

* Interest in going to the United States remains strong even in the current recession, with 36 percent of Mexicans (39 million people) saying they would move to the United States if they could. At present, 12 to 13 million Mexico-born people live in the United States.

* A new Pew Research Center poll also found that about one-third of Mexicans would go to the United States if they could.

* An overwhelming majority (69 percent) of people in Mexico thought that the primary loyalty of Mexican-Americans (Mexico- and U.S.-born) should be to Mexico. Just 20 percent said it should be to the United States. The rest were unsure.

* Also, 69 percent of people in Mexico felt that the Mexican government should represent the interests of Mexican-Americans (Mexico- and U.S.-born) in the United States.

* A plurality, 39 percent, of Mexicans thought that in the last year fewer people they know had gone to the United States as illegal immigrants compared to previous years. Only 27 percent thought more had gone. The rest thought it had stayed the same or were unsure.

* A plurality, 40 percent, also thought that in the last year more of the illegal immigrants they know had returned to Mexico compared to previous years. Only 25 percent thought the number returning had fallen. The rest thought it had stayed the same or were unsure.

* Both the bad economy and increased immigration enforcement were cited as reasons fewer people were going to America as illegal immigrants and more were coming back to Mexico.

As the nation debates the issue of immigration, the perspective of people in Mexico is important because Mexico is the top sending country for both legal and illegal immigrants. In 2008, one of six new legal immigrants was from Mexico and, according to the Department of Homeland Security, six out of 10 illegal immigrants come from that country.1 Asking people in Mexico their views on immigration can provide insight into the likely impact of an amnesty for illegal immigrants and other questions related to immigration.[snip]

Sending our jobs south was stupid. We cannot repeat that mistake. We did not help Mexico to develop its own resources and peoples. Had we done so, we could be more equal trading partners with them.

We didn't just send our jobs to Mexico.

We also sent them billions of our US taxpayer dollars, supposedly to help Mexico develop it's own resources and peoples, just like you suggest.

See: Partnership for Prosperity - US Embassy Mexico City

See: Sociedad para la Prosperidad (Prosperity for the Society)

Guess what? It didn't make any difference. Mexicans still came here illegally. The real purpose behind the P4P and New Alliance Task Force (NATF) was to attract Mexican illegal aliens to the USA and into the US banking system. The money we sent south of the border went straight into the pockets of the Mexican ruling elite.

The P4P and NATF led directly to the sub-prime lending debacle which led directly to the deepest recession this country has seen since the Great Depression.

This occurred because not only did we give these illegal aliens easy access to the US banking system, including home loans, but we also gave them (courtesy of George W. Bush and the US taxpayer) money for the down payment.

So, when the economy took a nose-dive, they all left for Mexico because they had no investments to make them want to stay put.

See: Linking International Remittance Flows to Financial Services: Tapping the Latino Immigrant Market

A message from Mike Cutler about this article:

Hi Gang:

As you probably know, the administration and members of Congress in both houses are making it abundantly clear that no matter how many times a great majority of the citizens of the United States have made it crystal clear that they want our nation’s border secured and that they do not want illegal aliens to be given amnesty under the aegis of a program such as that which is called for under the terms of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” that they will press on with this program.

I am also quite certain that you know how adamantly I have been opposed to any such massive amnesty program for a number of reasons, beginning with my concerns about national security- to put it succinctly, there is no way that the beleaguered agency that would have to administer this ill-conceived program, USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) could handle the massive workload that would be created.

In fact, a string of reports issued by the investigative arm of Congress, the General Accountability Office (GAO) and by the OIG, the Office of the Inspector General, the government agency that is charged with investigating allegation of nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance have made it absolutely clear that USCIS demonstrates incompetence, ineptitude and, on occasion out-right corruption in its day to day work today. How in blazes could this agency run a program in which they would have to most likely process an minimum of an additional 100,000 applications each and every day, filed by illegal aliens who are euphemistically referred to “undocumented,” providing this illegal aliens with lawful status in our country and hence with official identity documents even though there is no way of readily determining the true identities of these millions of illegal aliens?

If an illegal alien who ran our nation’s border provides a false name, it is a virtual certainty that this background check would not pose a problem for the criminal or terrorist seeking lawful status in our country as an embedding tactic. This is precisely how most of the terrorists have been found to operate- they seek to gain lawful status to eliminate the potential threat that they might be discovered. They also want that lawful status to gain employment and a driver’s license. Remember, as I have often noted, including when I have testified before Congress, a day or two before a terrorist participates in a terrorist attack he (she) is likely to hide in plain sight by going to his (her) job!

Now we have the Zogby Poll as reported on by Steve Camarota, the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies, making it clear that citizens of Mexico would be encouraged to seek to violate our nation’s borders to enter the United States to seek unlawful employment. As you may know, I have been affiliated with the Center for Immigration Studies for about 7 years.

Here is something for you to consider. If an alien runs our borders he leaves no record as to when, where or how he entered the United States. This means that aliens could easily enter our country long after any cutoff date that a Comprehensive Immigration Reform program might establish and fraudulently claim to have been in the United States for the requisite period of time.

Again, remember that there is no way of knowing the true identity of these millions of illegal aliens.

If you doubt this- look at the Zogby Poll results. Millions of citizens of Mexico and many other countries would, no doubt swarm our borders seeking to fraudulently claim to have resided in the United States for the requisite period of time. The bureaucratic system would implode, crushed by the weight of the paper!

Those of you who are familiar with my commentaries know how much I love to use analogies, so here is something I hope helps you to visualize precisely what I am describing:

All of us are familiar with how people will attempt to cram themselves into a completely full elevator car even though another car with quickly open its doors a few feet away. In the worst case, the car into which these human sardines are attempting to wedge themselves will also return in just a few minutes, yet you could easily imagine that the elevator car they are so eager to enter will be the last one to ever show up!

If too many people do get into that elevator it may get stuck or, worse, it might plummet to the basement!

For the would-be illegal aliens the pressure to get across the U.S. border would be truly intense. These aliens know that they must make it across the border in order to file for amnesty. If they make it, they would then be allowed to bring their families to the United States legally! Not unlike that overcrowded elevator, the immigration systems would be so overwhelmed that any semblance of integrity would simply evaporate. In a manner of speaking, the entire system, I fear, would crash and burn!

Imagine the chaos on the border! I cannot imagine what the conditions would be like for our Border Patrol Agents!

Meanwhile consider these bullet points:

“An overwhelming majority (69 percent) of people in Mexico thought that the primary loyalty of Mexican-Americans (Mexico- and U.S.-born) should be to Mexico. Just 20 percent said it should be to the United States. The rest were unsure. “

“Also, 69 percent of people in Mexico felt that the Mexican government should represent the interests of Mexican-Americans (Mexico- and U.S.-born) in the United States.”

Think of the implications that this has for our nation!

If that statement is accurate, I am concerned that we could easily wind up with millions of voters who would vote for candidates that were viewed as being important to Mexico’s objectives rather than the objectives of the United States!

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