South of the Border - The Other Side of the Immigration Debate
By Becki Smith, National Employment Law Project Staff Attorney
In the past few weeks, the massive mobilizations organized by immigrants around the country have brought hope to the movement for comprehensive immigration reform. However, as immigrants’ voices nationwide have been raised for true reform that respects human rights and workers’ rights, conservatives have pulled out an old argument – Mexico-bashing.[1] Recently, press stories have circulated about Mexico’s human rights record related to immigrants, as if this gives license to the U.S. to treat workers into felons, further militarize its border, and deny basic rights to six million working people in our country. These arguments miss the point.
First, no one would argue that Mexico has a stellar record when it comes to protecting the basic human rights of immigrant workers in that country. But Mexico has made efforts to analyze its own human rights record and improve upon it. In November, it became the first migrant-receiving country in the world to submit a lengthy report analyzing its own compliance with the United Nation’s International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This week, in Geneva, the UN Committee charged with oversight of the Convention began reviewing that report. Community groups from Mexico and around the world provided additional data and questions about Mexico’s report, which will be further examined in the fall. The US, on the other hand, hasn’t even ratified the Convention.
Second, human rights standards are principles by which all countries in the world should live. They are not intended as excuses for countries to point fingers and smugly declare that as long as conditions in one country in the world are worse, no effort is needed. In fact, the US would do well to consider the internationally-protected right to life as it further militarizes the border, forcing unsafe border crossings that result in 400 deaths a year. Congress should consider human rights standards as it contemplates denying basic due process rights to immigrants. Finally, Congress should take into account basic labor rights standards as we continue to deny full labor protections to undocumented immigrants.
Finally, the immigration debate in the US could be furthered by a better understanding of the effects of globalization in Mexico. It has been 12 years since Mexico joined the United States and Canada to create a huge single market for goods and services under the North American Free Trade Agreement. While globalization has been good for the rich in both countries, it has wrought more poverty and more pressure for Mexicans, especially the rural and urban poor, to migrate north.
American workers understand the grim job loss picture here at home. We have less understanding of globalization’s effects in Mexico, where in the first year of NAFTA, more than a million jobs were lost. In the Mexican countryside, more than 1.5 million farmers have been driven off their land by heavily subsidized U.S. corn and other agricultural products. Tens of thousands of small businesses have also been driven out as products they once made are outsourced to even-cheaper Asian countries.
The maquiladora factories along the border, once touted as a means to bring wealth to the Mexican poor, have not made up for the job loss. When U.S. consumers stopped buying as the recession hit in 2001, maquiladoras also began shedding workers. The Mexican government estimates that more than 400,000 jobs disappeared in the process.
As unemployment and economic desperation in Mexico have increased, immigration to the United States has been the only hope of survival for millions of Mexicans. Unless we roll up our sleeves and address these root causes of migration, human rights records in all of the Americas will deteriorate, while migration increases. On May 1, and every day, workers have a chance to stand together for the advancement of just, fair and humane immigration, trade and labor policies.
[1] See, J. Michael Waller, “Mexico’s Immigration Law: Let’s Try it Here at Home,” providence Journal (April 24, 2006),; Mark Stevenson, ‘Mexico Harsh to Undocumented Migrants,” Associated Press (April 18, 2006); “Mexico asks US to do as it says, not as it does,” Arizona Star, (April 20, 2006).
In the past few weeks, the massive mobilizations organized by immigrants around the country have brought hope to the movement for comprehensive immigration reform. However, as immigrants’ voices nationwide have been raised for true reform that respects human rights and workers’ rights, conservatives have pulled out an old argument – Mexico-bashing.[1] Recently, press stories have circulated about Mexico’s human rights record related to immigrants, as if this gives license to the U.S. to treat workers into felons, further militarize its border, and deny basic rights to six million working people in our country. These arguments miss the point.
First, no one would argue that Mexico has a stellar record when it comes to protecting the basic human rights of immigrant workers in that country. But Mexico has made efforts to analyze its own human rights record and improve upon it. In November, it became the first migrant-receiving country in the world to submit a lengthy report analyzing its own compliance with the United Nation’s International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This week, in Geneva, the UN Committee charged with oversight of the Convention began reviewing that report. Community groups from Mexico and around the world provided additional data and questions about Mexico’s report, which will be further examined in the fall. The US, on the other hand, hasn’t even ratified the Convention.
Second, human rights standards are principles by which all countries in the world should live. They are not intended as excuses for countries to point fingers and smugly declare that as long as conditions in one country in the world are worse, no effort is needed. In fact, the US would do well to consider the internationally-protected right to life as it further militarizes the border, forcing unsafe border crossings that result in 400 deaths a year. Congress should consider human rights standards as it contemplates denying basic due process rights to immigrants. Finally, Congress should take into account basic labor rights standards as we continue to deny full labor protections to undocumented immigrants.
Finally, the immigration debate in the US could be furthered by a better understanding of the effects of globalization in Mexico. It has been 12 years since Mexico joined the United States and Canada to create a huge single market for goods and services under the North American Free Trade Agreement. While globalization has been good for the rich in both countries, it has wrought more poverty and more pressure for Mexicans, especially the rural and urban poor, to migrate north.
American workers understand the grim job loss picture here at home. We have less understanding of globalization’s effects in Mexico, where in the first year of NAFTA, more than a million jobs were lost. In the Mexican countryside, more than 1.5 million farmers have been driven off their land by heavily subsidized U.S. corn and other agricultural products. Tens of thousands of small businesses have also been driven out as products they once made are outsourced to even-cheaper Asian countries.
The maquiladora factories along the border, once touted as a means to bring wealth to the Mexican poor, have not made up for the job loss. When U.S. consumers stopped buying as the recession hit in 2001, maquiladoras also began shedding workers. The Mexican government estimates that more than 400,000 jobs disappeared in the process.
As unemployment and economic desperation in Mexico have increased, immigration to the United States has been the only hope of survival for millions of Mexicans. Unless we roll up our sleeves and address these root causes of migration, human rights records in all of the Americas will deteriorate, while migration increases. On May 1, and every day, workers have a chance to stand together for the advancement of just, fair and humane immigration, trade and labor policies.
[1] See, J. Michael Waller, “Mexico’s Immigration Law: Let’s Try it Here at Home,” providence Journal (April 24, 2006),; Mark Stevenson, ‘Mexico Harsh to Undocumented Migrants,” Associated Press (April 18, 2006); “Mexico asks US to do as it says, not as it does,” Arizona Star, (April 20, 2006).
posted by Andrew Stettner at 10:40 AM
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