The Benignimizer

"Illegal" Mexican immigrants are... An unprecedented flood? Leading to overpopulation? Hurting the economy? Stealing jobs? Willing to work for lower wages? Draining government funds? Committing crimes? Failing to assimilate? People who can be stopped by tougher enforcement? People to whom the U.S. owes nothing?

Some facts (an updated version of a list I put together some time ago):

• Structural adjustment was imposed on Mexico following a peso devaluation and debt crisis in 1982. In the 1980s, Mexican real wages fell 66%. In the 1980s, the average Mexican worker's wage was one-third that in the U.S. In the 2000s, the ratio is one-eighth. (Chacon, p. 113)
  
• The benefits of Mexico's economic growth since the imposition of neoliberalism have been negligible below the top 30%. (Stiglitz, p. 86) Union density has fallen from over 75% to under 30%. (Chacon, p. 113)
  
• NAFTA was passed in 1994. In the following year, Mexico experienced an economic crisis due to capital flight, losing 1 million jobs. (Chacon, p. 120) Real wages and unemployment took 5 years to regain the status quo ante, although capital flows stabilized in less than a year. (Stiglitz, p. 121)
  
• Beyond net poverty and unemployment, NAFTA resulted in massive rural displacement. In 1993, Mexico became a net corn importer from the U.S., and has remained one; since the passage of NAFTA, total U.S. exports to Mexico have doubled. 1.3 million Mexican small farmers went bankrupt between 1994 and 2004. (Chacon, pp. 120-122)
  
• Of approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 56% are Mexican. 5% of the U.S. workforce is undocumented. (Chacon, pp. 156-7)
• Presently, 12% of the U.S. population is foreign-born, 71% of them legal residents. (Chacon, p. 159) At points during the 19th century, 20% of the U.S. population was foreign-born, including 70% of the population of the largest cities; the "legal-illegal" distinction is a 20th century creation. (Chacon, pp. 175-7)
  
• Undocumented immigrants contribute just 3.3 out of each 1000 in U.S. population growth. (Chacon, p. 159)
  
• The U.S. economy is growing at approximately 3.5% per year. 1% of this is attributable to increase in population through immigration. By this means, immigrant labor contributes more jobs than it occupies. (Chacon, p. 160)
  
• Wages, even for workers at the lowest end of the wage scale, are higher in U.S. border cities than comparable non-border cities. Studies of sudden influxes of Cubans to Miami, Algerians to France, and Russians to Israel found no effect on employment or wages. (Henwood)
• Immigrant workers have been more combative than the native-born in seeking greater wages and benefits. The absolute number of immigrant workers in U.S. unions grew 23% between 1996 and 2003. (Chacon, pp. 285-6) The absolute number of all workers in U.S. unions, immigrant and U.S.-born, dropped by 3%. (L.R.A.)
• Undocumented immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in services, by an average of $1800 net per person. 49 states have a net fiscal gain from undocumented workers. (Chacon, p. 165)
  
• Official crime rates are lower in U.S. border cities than comparable non-border cities. Correcting for socioeconomic disadvantages, the crime rate among Chicanos is lower than the U.S. average and among first-generation immigrants is lower than third-generation. (Cowen)
• Nearly half of second-generation immigrants to the U.S. whose parents were Spanish-speaking are English dominant, and nearly half are bilingual. 7% are Spanish dominant. In the third generation, three quarters are English dominant, the rest bilingual. (Alba)
• Since the 1980s, the Border Patrol has gone from a budget of $200 million to $1.6 billion and 2,500 officers to 12,000. Immigration rates have remained constant, and apprehension rates on the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped from 33% to 10% as immigrants switch from urban to desert crossings. Returns to Mexico, however, have dropped from 50% in the 1980s to 25% in the 2000s, and deaths on the border have jumped to 400 per year, now over 4000 in total. (Chacon, p. 210)

References
Justin Akers Chacon, professor of U.S. history & Chicano studies at UC San Diego, No One Is Illegal
Joseph Stiglitz, professor of economics at Columbia, Globalization and its Discontents
Doug Henwood, editor of Left Business Observer, "A nation of (yesterday's) immigrants"
Labor Research Association, "Union Membership: Overall (1948-2004)"
Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason, "Does Mexican immigration reduce crime?"
Richard Alba, professor of sociology at SUNY Albany, "Mexican Americans and the American Dream"

Posted by David on 9.17.2006 at 1:12 PM | Permalink