Immigration in Mexico

Category: Immigration

Mexico has a population of around 108,700,891 (July 2007 est.) The ethnic composition of this population is predominantly Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) which makes up 60% percent of the population. The second most predominant ethnicity are complete Amerindians which takes up the next 30% of the population. The minorities of the population are whites who make up 9% and “other” which make up the last 1% of the population. The population growth rate of the country is about 1.153% with a birth rate of about 20.36 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) and a death rate around 4.76 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) The rate of immigration is roughly -4.08 migrants/1,000 population (2007 est.)
The beginning of Mexican immigration dates back to World War Two when Mexico agreed to the United States proposition of the “Bracero Program” in which Mexico supplied an estimated 4.5 million workers from 1942 to 1964 to balance the labor shortages in the United States during the war. But what America thought of as a temporary project the Mexican immigrants saw as permanent as they began to settle in the United States while prompting many other Mexican immigrants to illegally cross the border as well. The number of Mexicans who have moved their residence from Mexico to the United States has been steadily increasing since the 1960’s and increased most dramatically during the 1990’s.
The main reason for Mexican immigration into the United States is primarily economic gain. The nominal wage differentials are ten to one in favor of the United States. The long and sustained economic growth of the United States is a perfect match for the ceaselessly growing Mexican labor force. While some immigrants would permanently settle in the US, others would temporarily stay in an effort to make money to then take back home. Originally most of the Mexican immigrants came from rural agricultural areas but now come from every part of Mexico and settle almost all over the United States from Texas to California to New York.
In response to the illegal immigration the Mexican government has taken up the “policy of no policy” in other words their ignoring the illegal immigrations and letting them take place without objection. Today the main consensus among the two countries is normalizing and regulating migration into the US and establishing a wide-ranging legalization of Mexicans working there. However, this idea does not sit well with most of the Mexican population. So to this day the Mexican government is still trying to re-negotiate with the United States while the United States is trying every possible solution there is to stop the immigration flow. Pretty soon the United States will implement Project Chuck Norris where they put Chuck on the Mexican border so he can round-house kick anyone trying to illegally get through. God only know what they’ll come up with next.
In conclusion, Mexico and the United States are either going to have to accept the fact that illegal immigrants are making their way across the border or to engage cooperatively to try and negotiate a reasonable solution to cease or ease the rampant flow of illegal immigrants.

-Henry Rentas