December 30, 1999
Commentary
By Domenico Maceri
"Why are the people of Mexico coming here if things are so bad" a reader wanted to know. The question was a reaction to an article in which I called for a revival of a guest worker program which would allow Mexican nationals to come and do seasonal work legally in the US. In the article I also talked about the current situation, which puts undocumented workers at the mercy of unscrupulous smugglers and often just as unscrupulous employers.
Things aren't bad in the US at all. That's why people from other countries keep coming with papers or without. Mexicans come because of jobs that pay a decent wage by their standards but which in the US are regarded as nothing but miserable incomes.
An unskilled worker in Mexico will make the equivalent of twenty-five dollars a week when work is available. In the US, even working at the minimum wage, the same person will make twice the amount in a day.
The great disparity in wages is a powerful incentive to make the journey north. The primary reason why they come is, however, because they get hired. If companies did not hire them, they would not be here.
So companies need workers who will toil for low wages and poor people need work. It's a geographic situation that creates the attraction. The US is a rich country whose southern neighbor is a poor one. Migration is therefore inevitable. It happens all over the world.
In the last twenty years North Africans have been moving into Europe because as the economies of western countries became stronger, menial work became unattractive to Europeans. Poor people have been moving into Italy, Spain, France, Germany, to do the work that locals refuse to do.
Migration even occurs when the disparity in wages is not that great. Haitians cross the border into the Dominican Republic because the economy in their own country is very bad. The other side of Hispaniola, which is occupied by the Dominican Republic, provides employment opportunities.
The tragic thing about migration in the US is that Mexican workers die as they cross the border. Anywhere between fifty and a hundred lose their lives yearly as they attempt to get into the US. Two died near my home, one a few miles away, another 30 miles, as they attempted to flee from INS, the dreaded "migra."
Can we eliminate undocumented workers from the US? We may never be able to get rid of all illegal immigration, but much can be done. Companies should be required to advertise job openings. If Americans would not be willing to do the work, then temporary guest workers from Mexico could be brought in legally. They should be given the basic protections guaranteed to any US worker and reasonable benefits. Provisions should be made once their work is done to return them to their homes in Mexico.
The mere mention of guest workers creates problems for some people who remember the Bracero program of the fifties and sixties. Almost everyone agrees the program was a failure. Workers were nothing more than indentured servants and were exploited by American companies as well as by Mexican officials. Recently, many old Braceros demonstrated in Mexico City because part of their wages which were deposited in Mexican banks were never given to them.
In spite of the past failures of the Bracero program, a guest worker program can work. It is working in Canada, where Mexican and Caribbean nationals are brought in to do agricultural work. The program is based on a bi-national memorandum of understanding between the two involved countries. It legalizes the work people do and as a process gives them dignity, for no human being is illegal regardless of whether he has a piece of paper or not.
But having a piece of paper makes absolutely sure that basic rights are protected.
Things aren't bad at all in the US, but for undocumented workers they could certainly be better. Working legally without having to risk one's life is a basic human need. It shouldn't matter which side of the border one happens to be born on.
Domenico Maceri (dmaceri@aol.com), PhD, UC Santa Barbara, teaches foreign languages at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, CA.
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