Heavy Migrant Crossing Points As A Method example essay topic

Economic instability, hardship, and seemingly perpetual poverty. Most United States citizens sit comfortably in prosperity and fail to think of anything that would be less; however, for our neighbors to south, prosperity is the last thing encountered on a day-to-day basis. Mexico's poor have flocked to America illegally as a result of unbearable living conditions and scarce economic opportunity. This has become a growing problem in the United States, as many undocumented illegal aliens have found ways to avoid militarized border points.

In many of these instances of illegal crossings, the cost for anticipated freedom and opportunity in the United States has been the price of death, as illegal immigrants have ventured into the dry, hot, vast and lethal conditions of the Sonoran Desert. In evaluating the current conditions of United States immigration policy, it is clear to see that increased militarization is not the best method in combating this problem; in fact, the only effective methods would be to create a guest worker program along with additional US policy change through regulation and persistent reformation. Current border conditions and US policy have been said to increase illegal crossings, if anything at all. Many would even believe that the US Government is not even paying enough attention to the situation; or, they are paying attention in an ineffective manner. This ineffective manner is the increase in border militarization around specific points spanning the 2,000-mile stretch of borderland from California to Texas. Following former President Bill Clinton's entry into office in 1993, there were initiatives to pump up security at several well-known American border cities such as San Diego, El Paso and Laredo, TX (Griswold, 2003).

David E. Lorey also indicates, "With each attempt to crackdown on migrants -for example, the mid-1990's initiatives known as Operation Hold the Line in El Paso and Operation Gatekeeper at the San Ysidro broodier crossing -US-Mexican relations suffered (Lorey, 168)". The latter part of 2001 also ushered in more initiative for border patrol and heavy check point maintenance; there were efforts for increase national security following the terrorist attacks on the East coast of the United States. But overall, beefing up border security, in traditionally heavy migrant crossing points as a method to stop illegal crossings, has been greatly counterproductive because it has also "spawned an underworld of smuggling, document fraud and other criminal activity... migrants have been forced to hire the services of smuggling networks or individuals guides known as 'coyotes' (Griswold 2003)". This method only deters migrants from crossing in certain areas but does not stop them. Even Arizona Republican Senator John McCain admits this in his July 25, 2003 press release in which he introduces his solutions for dealing with immigration policy failure; he states, "In recent years, improved security and enhanced infrastructure in California and Texas have created a funneling effect through the Sonoran Desert... many people desperate to cross the border pay large sums of money to human smugglers who guarantee their entrance into the US... (McCain, 2003)".

In a problem that's already bad, only something like militarization can make it worse, which is why other methods of solving or at least dealing with the problem must be sought in terms of compromise and some forms of legalization and regulation of migrant US entry. Taking from McCain's introduction of The Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act to Congress, it is worthwhile to look at the proposed possibility of reformed guest worker and Visa programs. According to McCain, such an plan would confront issues of migrants who wish to enter the US for employment purposes and confront issues involving those who are already are in the US illegally and undocumented. There are talks that this legislation would try to pair up willing workers with willing employers to better accommodate desires for employment. But most importantly, this legislation would allow undocumented immigrants the chance to come forward for steps toward legalization in order to avoid any sort of mistreatment and other forms of exploitation because of non-legal status. General ideas of guest worker and compromise between Mexico and the United States are better than methods such as militarization because it recognizes certain facts about the way the two countries interact.

Low-skilled migrants come to America not to compete for jobs but simply take jobs that most Americans are overqualified for anyway; we see that jobs involving hotels, restaurants, construction, manufacturing, landscaping, cleaning, retailing and produce all will continue to increase in the near future as more Americans require higher degrees of skill and education (Griswold 2003). In a way, these guest-worker programs would make more sense because there are created gaps in demand for low-skilled work among Americans and willingness to work among Americans. Opponents of such initiatives would argue that a guest worker program would make people want to remain here after visas would expire so that they would not have to go back home and earn lower wages; also, they would also argue that past guest workers programs have shown that the participants and their families grow accustomed to the increased incomes and have no real incentive to return home unless rapid economic and job growth there creates proportionate opportunities (Martin & Teitelbaum 2001). In responding to this claim, it can be said that migrants don't exactly come to the United States with ambitions to fully permanently. Though there may be some that overstay their visas, it's a hard choice to return home knowing economic conditions are likely to worsen again, and yet still risk another potentially dangerous crossing. It would only be logical for most migrants to want to back home if possible.

But, since most migrants come to the United States solely in search of work, they come to solve temporary problems of family finance -by saving dollars and sending them back home in the form of remittances (Griswold). In comparing and contrasting constructive methods of dealing with a serious problem, instead of the continuance of non-effective militarization methods, it's better and more humane to go with compromising and legalization. Tens of thousands of immigrants die annually trying to cross the border. People are exploited and taken advantage of in many ways. Yet, they are driven by one of the main instincts that link us all: the will to survive.

This instinct, itself, penetrates the borders long before any immigrant physically does. Illegal immigrants should be allowed to work in America as guest workers if there are no Americans willing to take the jobs offered. McCain has proposed a legislative call that offers a more constructive and sympathetic approach to the immigration problem. McCain paints a picture of humanity and desire for employment and not just excess bodies unlawfully flooding our borders that need to be deterred by war-zone like border check points. Thought Congress may be located on the other side of the country in terms of where these issues lie, it cannot afford to be blind and oblivious to the facts that this issue demands great attention.

Bibliography

Griswold, Daniel T. "Confronting the Problem of Illegal Mexican Immigration to the US". USA Today Magazine. Mar. 2003.
Vol. 131, Issue 2694, p 10, 4 p. Lorey, David E. "The US-Mexico Border in the Twentieth Century: A History of Economic and Social Transformation". Wilmington: SR Books, 1999.
Martin, Philip L. & Michael S. Teitelbaum. "The Mirage of Mexican Guest Workers". Foreign Affairs. Nov / Dec 2001.
Vol. 80, Issue 6, p 117, 15 p. McCain, John. "Statement of Senator John McCain on the introduction of the Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act". United States Congress, Washington D.C. 25 July 2003.