Posted on 03/19/2002 10:49:48 AM PST by FreedomSurge
The Undocumented Immigrant: Heroes or criminals?
HARLINGEN, Texas - Whoever thought that the terrorist acts of the 11th of September 2001 was going to stop, at one blow, the immigration of the undocumented to the United States are very mistaken. Thousands daily try to cross the deserts of Arizona and California or swim the Rio Bravo (or Rio Grande, as they say here in the United States).
Thousands every day
How many are stopped and how many manage to cross? In January and February of this year the North American Border Patrol arrested little more than 73 thousand people. And although this is a reduction of the 52 percent with respect to the previous year, unofficial calculations indicate that every day thousands of the undocumented manage to circumvent the monitoring along the border or remain in the United States after their tourist, student or of businesses visas expire. Thousands every day.
There is not the smallest doubt that these immigrants contribute enormously to North American economy -10 billion dollars a year, according to the Academy of Sciences of United States and to the immigrants’ countries of origin.
For example, the Mexicans who live in this country send more than 8 billion dollars annually in remittances to families in Mexico; this is the third foreign currency source for the country after the tourism and petroleum.
The undocumented immigrants in the United States - 8 million, according to the National Office of the Census- pay taxes, keep inflation under control, are a cheap source of manual labor for agriculture and the service sector, and sustain economically a population that is aging very fast.¨.
In other words, the immigrants are a magnificent business for the United States and Latin America. But what is bothersome is that many North Americans continue considering them criminals.
Good people and Good workers - Tom Ridge
Recently I had the opportunity to interview the director of National Security of the United States, Tom Ridge, and he said to me that " technically it is possible to define the undocumented as criminals." After saying that to me - seeking to prevent a counterattack by the Mexican side - added that although these immigrants had broken the law most of them are "good people and good workers."
The interesting part of this subject is that immigrants who are thought of as criminals by Tom Ridge are considered heroes by the president of Mexico, Vicente Fox. When I told the Mexican foreign minister, Jorge Castañeda, Ridge’s comments, Casteneda said that the real law breakers are the American companies that use the undocumented labor..
Since 1986 it is a crime to hire foreigners without papers, he told me. And nevertheless, tens of thousands of business owners hire Mexicans or Central Americans without documents all the time.
After 11th of September, anti-immigrant feelings have increased in the United States. Because the 19 terrorists who killed almost three thousand people were foreign, many North Americans believe uncritically that all undocumented are criminals or potential terrorists
Thus, they are prevented from obtaining drivers licenses in all 50 states and there are frequent claims of mistreatment and unjustified arrests.
But they keep on coming. Near the center of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, a coyote or pollero named Abraham offered to take me over the Rio Bravo in exchange for 200 dollars. He never found out that he was speaking with a reporter.
The problem is that every year nearly 350 immigrants drown or die of dehydration; only a few days ago a boy of 16 years named Fabían Gonzalez watched as his father, Miguel, died after spending three days without water in the desert of Arizona. The coyote that was guiding them left them to their own luck and they were lost in a desert boiling at night and frozen by day.
“the Hulk " and green cards
Those who manage to cross have a network of counterfeiters who assist them find a job.
In the production of this article, a Mexican youth nicknamed the Hulk was captured on hidden camera, trying to sell me a social security card and a green card for 90 dollars.
The surprising thing is that this happened on Roosevelt Street in the Queens, New York, only a few minutes from where the World Trade Center towers fell.
In other words, the terrorist acts have done very little to dissuade the Latin Americans to come illegally to the United States. Although the North American government does not want it to acknowledge it, it continues to be relatively easy to cross the border and to obtain false documents within the country.
If you don’t think this is the case, ask the coyote that I knew in Reynosa or the counterfeiter who I met in New York. As long as there are unemployed millions in Mexico (and in the rest of Latin America) or people earning five dollars a day and work for them in the United States where they can earn that same amount in one hour, they will continue arriving undocumented. Nothing - neither the national guard, nor higher barriers, nor stricter laws, nor greater monitoring, nor the worst terrorist act in the history of United States will be able to stop to the thousands that every year look for a better life in the north
It wasn't until then that I realized how old it was.
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