Immigrants aren’t the problem, greed is.
Undocumented immigrants are part of the backbone of American society and basically, always have been.
In the 1800's Chinese immigrants built the transcontinental railroad. Later it was the Irish, the Jews, the Italians and the Germans who were considered ‘immigrants’, that worked for lower wages.
Presently, we have a very diverse population of immigrants and many undocumented immigrants, that have come over the border from Mexico and to a lesser extent from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
The difference is that now we have a global economy and borders that are open to goods but closed to humans. This has resulted in increased exploitation of labor and has had a destabilizing effect on the labor market here and on the other side of the border.
Take Mexico for instance, our closest neighbor to the south. Thanks to NAFTA we have policies in place that allow the U.S. to dump our excess corn on Mexico, because our farmers are subsidized by the government; there actually is a surplus of corn (genetically modified) being produced in the U.S.
That corn gets sent and dumped on Mexico at a price so low that no Mexican farmer can beat it. This effectively puts them out of a job. According to the New Agriculturalist, “Approximately one quarter of Mexico’s 100 million people live in rural areas, and depend primarily on agriculture.” So when we talk about free trade like it’s such a wonderful mark of progress we need to ask the question ‘Who benefits?’
Now that we are 25 years post NAFTA it is safe to say that the promise of expanded opportunities for all has largely fallen short. Millions of Mexicans have been forced off their farms and into maquiladoras (factories) along the border that pay slave wages where they are forced to live in inhumane conditions without clean running water. Yet, in the U.S. there are still millions of Americans who want to blame Mexicans for ‘taking our jobs’.
The issue has become a political hot button with conservative Trump supporter’s chanting- “build the wall,” and with Trump threatening to drop off “illegals” in sanctuary cities. But underneath all the ballyhoo what is the actual problem with having immigrants in this country?
Undocumented workers still pay taxes, according to bipartisanpolicy.org, “The IRS estimates that undocumented workers pay over $9 billion in withheld payroll taxes annually.”
When a U.S. citizen working a low wage job doesn’t earn enough to meet a certain threshold they get money back at the end of the year, undocumented immigrants do not. They also don’t collect social security or receive SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) benefits and are ineligible to receive most federal public benefits.
Undocumented immigrants are actually helping to fund social security. So why do so many Americans continue to believe otherwise? The media, especially Fox News, reports half-truths and outright falsehoods and the politicians use it to their advantage by capitalizing off people’s frustrations over lack of decent pay jobs and real opportunities.
The sad fact is that globalization has only exacerbated problems for the working class. The majority of the benefits have gone to the people who run industry while he trickle down that Reaganomics promised in the 80's never came. So let’s stop blaming the victim and start thanking them instead. For the extra billions in revenue, for working the worst jobs for the lowest pay and for bringing us their local cuisine, culture and spirit.
