Here's a letter to the editor I had published in the Lowell Sun about how the United State's policies have largely resulted in immigration from Mexico. Here's the original link.
Absent from the growing debate about Mexican immigration to the United States is the most important question: Why are so many people willing to risk coming here?
Since the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 the number of documented and undocumented Mexicans in the United States has increased at a consistent rate, with a slight decline from 2007 to 2008 due to the financial crisis. This correlation is related to how the agreement fundamentally altered the economic relationship between the United States and Mexico. After the agreement went into effect, American-made farm produce (primarily corn) flooded the Mexican market. Mexican farmers are unable to compete with the prices of American corn because the industry is subsidized by the government, which NAFTA explicitly disallows the Mexican government to do for its corn producers.
At the same time that cheap American corn was putting Mexican farmers out of business, American corporations were moving manufacturing plants from the United States (with disastrous effects for many American workers) to Mexico, offering wages far below what would be justified by the profits these corporations were making.
Due to the lack of opportunity presented within Mexico, the prospects of coming to American and working in the service industry and other low-paying jobs seemed worth the risk for many.
It is clear that NAFTA and American corporations have done quite a bit to make the prospects of coming to the United States seem a lot better than remaining in Mexico. So before we criticize immigrants who come to our country seeking opportunity, we should reconsider our government's policies which have had such a harmful effect for many in Mexico.
