"Legal" Emigration on Independence Day
Reyna's story of going across the border is terrifying. She is a 9 year old little girl running across the border of two countries chasing her father's love. The riveting description of the fear and danger that awaits those who cross the border between Mexico and America shows just how desperate those emigrating are. A constant question that recurs in American society is, "Why can't "they" just emigrate legally?" I have heard this question many, many times. I finally decided to investigate this reason after reading Reyna's account. Not because I have a problem with someone emigrating; but, because of the shear terror I gleaned from her story. I truly wanted to know when the trip is that horrifying why the other route would not be the preferred route.
“Legal” Immigration- Reasons that legal immigration is so difficult.
https://www.cato.org/blog/why-legal-immigration-system-broken-short-list-problems
“1. A far too restrictive system overall.
2. Static immigration quotas.
3. Quotas on nationalities—the law micromanages immigrant demographics.
4. Immigrants wait in line for decades.
5. Immigrant workers are counted against multiple quotas.
6. There’s a limit for immigrants with “extraordinary ability”.
7. Workers without college degrees only get 5,000 green cards.
8. The president can end the refugee program unilaterally.
9. No immigration category for entrepreneurs.
10. No way to create new immigration categories without congressional action.
11. Immigrants generally cannot apply for permanent residency on their own.
12. Spouses and minor children of new immigrants count against the quotas.
13. There’s a quota on new spouses and minor children of current permanent
residents.
14. Children of temporary workers grow up here, wait in line with their parents
for permanent residency, and get kicked out of line on their 21st birthday.
15. Immigrants can live here for decades without receiving permanent residency.
16. Illegal immigrants cannot leave and reapply to return legally.
17. Spouses and children of temporary workers are banned from working.
18. The law requires immigrants to pretend that they don’t want to immigrate.
19. Forcing employers to advertise positions that are already filled.
20. Temporary workers cannot easily change jobs.
21. No temporary visas at all for year-round workers without college degrees.
22. Noncitizens can access federal welfare programs after five years.
23. The president can ban any immigrants that he doesn’t like.
24. No opportunity to appeal visa denials.
25. The burden of proof is on immigrants and their sponsors, not the
government.
26. America has closed borders with a few holes.”
https://americasvoice.org/blog/immigration-101-why-immigrants-cant-just-get-legal/
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/why-don%E2%80%99t-they-just-get-line
With the understanding of how difficult it is to emigrate to the United States legally and how difficult it is to cross the border, those who make the trip must have tremendous resolve. I researched reasons for that resolve below and included some quotes.
"There are various pull and push factors that determine why a Mexican citizen would choose to come to the United States. Some pull factors that make the US appealing include access to better healthcare and quality education, large existing communities of Mexican immigrants, family reunification, and more job opportunities. These factors are correlated with the economic benefits of the American dream. Some push factors that compel a Mexican citizen to leave his or her home country include high crime rates, drug trafficking, unemployment, poverty, and climate hazards that lead to water shortages.
What is seldom expressed in the polarized and inflammatory political discourse is that US policies have contributed to some of the reasons Mexicans feel forced to leave their native country and opt to live in the US. In seeking asylum, Arellano cites these factors, along with her fears of returning to Mexico where she says her political activism has put her at risk. As she awaits her asylum hearing, her concerns about being deported again have been stoked by the Trump administration’s avowed commitment to step up enforcement and target a larger pool of immigrants for removal, according to a Chicago Tribune story, “Immigration activist Arellano faces ICE check-in, worries about deportation.”
Arellano points to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the agreement that President Trump has called the “worst trade deal in history” and pledged to end it or renegotiate it, as affecting the agriculture of her country and her family’s land. NAFTA displaced more than five million agricultural workers from the land that they had lived for years, according to Walter Coleman, a pastor of the church where Arellano was given sanctuary for a year in the 1980s. In Mexico, Arellano’s father lost his ability to grow corn on his land. When the family land was passed down to Arellano, she did not have the resources to maintain it and ended up losing her job because of the devaluation of the peso, which as she says, was caused by US banks.
Arellano came to the United States, she says, because she had no means of supporting her family back home. Coleman calls her situation a “forced migration,” because Arellano did not want to leave her home and come to the United States, but she felt like she had no choice.
“We didn’t come to this country looking for the American dream,” Arellano says, translated from Spanish. “We left our country because of the politics of [the United States] and how it affected our well-being.”
Her son Saul, then only four years old, was with her when she got arrested and deported in 2002. He was born in the United States but moved back shortly after his mom was deported. He went back to a land his mother called home but in which he felt like a stranger. It was difficult for him to transition from one language to another, let alone one country to another. After coming back to the United States, Saul is settled and accustomed to his life. Although he does not call Mexico his true home, he remembers and appreciates the sacrifices his mom made for him by coming to the United States and giving birth to him here.
As with Arellano’s second immigration to the United States after being deported, many Mexican immigrants come to the US so that they can provide a better future for their children, even if they themselves would have rather stayed in Mexico. In this case, both push and pull factors matter, with more emphasis on economic opportunities for the children of Mexican immigrants – the second generation."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emigration_from_Mexico
"Generally, the people who tend to leave Mexico for the United States are from lower-class backgrounds. They primarily come from the following nine states: Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis PotosÃ, Hidalgo, Chiapas[3] and Sinaloa. In these states it is not uncommon to see towns where men are absent, and are supposed to be working in the United States. While the women take care of their children, husbands send money (dollars) to their families in Mexico. This money, sent by Mexican workers abroad to their country, is called remesas in Mexican Spanish, and the amount has become the second highest amount of income that Mexico receives from other countries, second only to oil.
Traditionally, affluent people with overwhelming income used to live in Mexico, but recent economic opportunities and advantages with international treaties, harassing, and threatening insecurity have made them leave the country."
"Among communities of origin, there is a widespread ambivalence towards
migrants, as the money they send back is welcome, but there is
resentment against the cultural changes that they bring with them when
they come back. Returning migrants are blamed for bringing with them
drug use, sexually-transmitted diseases, and antisocial behavior. They
are held responsible for the abandonment of the traditional indigenous
way of life as they bring back western cultural habits and material
culture. The return of migrants to Mexico thus has important cultural
repercussions and changes the face of their home communities forever."
Reyna's family did not make the journey to America lightly. The trip to America cost her family dearly and while she did have success, there are many aspects of her childhood that she cannot regain.
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