HIST 361: The Mexican Revolution: Birth, Life, Death

Stephanie Hanson, Council on Foreign Relations, Daily Analysis, Nov. 21, 2008

Mexico’s economy is slowing–remittances from abroad are down, as is U.S. demand for Mexican exports. But one sector is doing a brisk business–the funeral industry near the U.S. border (Reuters). Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began his offensive against drug cartels and organized criminals in December 2006, drug-related killings have escalated, as has the need for undertakers. Though the drug war receives minimal attention north of the border, some authorities say it increasingly threatens the stability of the Mexican state and poses a security threat to the United States.

Calderon has moved aggressively against Mexico’s drug cartels. He has deployed over thirty thousand soldiers across the country, purged several police forces of corrupt members, and pushed a judicial reform package through Congress. But the violence has only mounted. More than four thousand people have died in drug-related violence this year, up from more than 2,500 deaths in 2007. The escalation is so great that drug gangs are widely suspected of causing the plane crash in early November that killed the interior minister, though the government says pilot error was the cause (NYT).

The drug cartels’ infiltration of the police, judiciary, and political parties has severely compromised the government’s ability to fight the drug cartels, some experts say. As Alma Guillermoprieto writes in the New Yorker, the end of one-party rule in Mexico precipitated the need to run expensive election campaigns, which the drug cartels are reported to now fund. The Mexican army is considered relatively clean, but its deployment has presented new opportunities for corruption, and causes tension with local security forces.

Experts say little progress will be made until Mexico’s police and judiciary are reformed. Mexican professor Ana Laura Magaloni, speaking at the Wilson Center in May 2008, says the focus should be on state-level reforms of the criminal justice system. In the meantime, concerns mount about drug-related violence spilling across the border. “International drug cartels pose an extraordinary threat both here and abroad,” said U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey in September 2008. Mexico’s drug gangs could be a greater threat to the United States than global terrorism, adds John P. Sullivan of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

Calderon has sought U.S. assistance to tackle the problem. A new aid package known as the Merida Initiative (PDF) will provide $400 million in equipment and communications systems this year, with plans for further funding in the next two years. Some Mexican and U.S. analysts criticize the package for its focus on equipment rather than training and institution building. Others note that the package does not address how to reduce U.S. drug demand.

Drug trafficking is not the only issue of mutual interest between Mexico and the United States. Mexico is the third most important source of oil to the United States but output has been dropping since 2005. A package of energy reforms passed Mexico’s Congress on October 28, but industry experts say it likely does not go far enough to attract the kind of private investment needed to build capacity.

Immigration also complicates the U.S.-Mexico relationship–the majority of illegal immigrants in the United States are Mexicans. The U.S. Congress failed to pass immigration reform legislation in 2007, but some are hopeful that President-elect Barack Obama might revive the issue. It was one of the topics he discussed with his presidential rival, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), in a November 17 meeting aimed at building bipartisan momentum for congressional initiatives. A recent CFR Independent Task Force on U.S.-Latin American relations recommends a U.S. guest worker programs, legalized a path to citizenship, and addressing circular migration for agriculture workers.

NACLA  News, Nov 18 2008

Roberto Lovato

Lost in debates around immigration, as the United States enters its greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, is any sense of the historical connection between immigration policy and increased government control—of citizens. Following a pattern established at the foundation of the republic, immigrants today are again being used to justify government responses the economic and political crises. Consider, for example, the establishment in November 2002 of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the largest, most important restructuring of the federal government since the end of World War II.¹ The following March, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was dismantled and replaced with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency under the newly established DHS. ICE’s rapid expansion—16,500-plus employees and near $5 billion budget—quickly transformed it into DHS’s largest investigative component, accounting for more than one fifth of the multibillion-dollar DHS budget. ICE is also the second-largest investigative agency in the federal government, after the FBI, responsible for enforcing more than 400 statutes, and is arguably the most militarized federal entity after the Pentagon.² Not long after its inception, ICE began to wage what many advocates have called a “war on immigrants.”

Beginning in fall 2006, ICE launched a campaign of workplace and home raids aimed at “getting tough on immigrants.” Thousands of heavily armed ICE agents were deployed in these high-profile raids designed, we were told, to find and deport undocumented immigrants. Since 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have been detained in jails that constitute the fastest-growing part of the prison system in the country. The speed with which the militarization of migration policy took place left many questions. Why, for example, did the Bush administration move the citizenship-processing and immigration-enforcement functions of government from the more domestic, policing-oriented Department of Justice to the more militarized, anti-terrorist bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security? Most explanations view this transfer, and the relentless pursuit of undocumented immigrants that it enabled, as a response to the continuing pressures of angry, mostly white, citizens. Widespread fear and xenophobia following the September 11 attacks, together with the “anti-immigrant climate” fostered thereafter by civic groups like the Minutemen, Republican politicos, and media personalities like CNN’s Lou Dobbs, we are told, has led directly to the massive new government bureaucracy for policing immigrants. The Washington Post, for example, told us in 2006 that the rise of the Minutemen and their armed citizen patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border was “credited with helping to ignite the debate that has dominated Washington in recent months.”³

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NACLA News

Nov 12 2008

Zach Dyer

The amount of money sent home to Mexico by migrants in the United States this August dropped for the first time on record, according to the Central Bank of Mexico and the World Bank. But not all remittances to Latin America are suffering the same sudden shock as Mexico’s. Central American banks are reporting continued growth, and Honduras is even showing a record-breaking 11% increase so far this year.

Immigrant rights march in downtown L.A. on May Day, 2006. (By Jonathan McIntosh, C.C. 2.5)

After remittances to Latin America surged 117% from 2002 to 2007, Mexican remittances were down nearly 3% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2007. The sub-prime mortgage and credit crises—along with continuing economic volatility in the U.S.—all appear to be likely causes, but Wall Street’s plunge happened too recently to explain the decline.

Since undocumented immigrants make up a large portion of migrant labor, reliable remittance figures are notoriously difficult to pin down with certainty. Alternative methods of transfer, including debit cards and carrying cash in hand, may skew statistics. But the evidence suggests that the actual amount of remittances has declined since 2007.

This drop in remittances has the potential to affect millions of people throughout Mexico, and it will likely hit the poor especially hard. In 2007, $25 billion flowed from the United States to Mexico in the form of remittances, making it the second-largest single foreign exchange earner for the national economy, behind only oil exports. Mexico routinely ranks as one of world’s highest receivers of remittances. These funds typically support local infrastructure, education, food, and other necessities.

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Pew Hispanic Center, Oct. 2, 2008

by Jeffrey Passel, Senior Demographer, Pew Hispanic Center
and D’Vera Cohn, Senior Writer, Pew Research Center

Report Materials

Complete Report

There were 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in March 2008, according to new Pew Hispanic Center estimates. The size of the unauthorized population appears to have declined since 2007, but this finding is inconclusive because of the margin of error in these estimates.

However, it is clear from the estimates that the unauthorized immigrant population grew more slowly in the period from 2005 to 2008 than it did earlier in the decade.

It also is clear that from 2005 to 2008, the inflow of immigrants who are undocumented fell below that of immigrants who are legal permanent residents. That reverses a trend that began a decade ago. The turnaround appears to have occurred in 2007.

The Pew Hispanic Center also estimates that inflows of unauthorized immigrants averaged 800,000 a year from 2000 to 2004, but fell to 500,000 a year from 2005 to 2008 with a decreasing year-to-year trend. By contrast, the inflow of legal permanent residents has been relatively steady this decade.

Although the growth of the unauthorized population has slackened, its size has increased by more than 40% since 2000, when it was 8.4 million. In 2005, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated there were 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The most recent estimate, 11.9 million, indicates that unauthorized immigrants make up 4% of the U.S. population.

These estimates are based mainly on data from the 2000 Census and the March Current Population Surveys for the years since then. Because the Census Bureau does not ask people their immigration status, these estimates are derived using a widely accepted methodology that essentially subtracts the estimated legal-immigrant population from the total foreign-born population. The residual is treated as a source of data on the unauthorized immigrant population.

The estimates are not designed to explain why the net growth rate has declined. There could be a number of possible causes, including a slowdown in U.S. economic growth that has had a disproportionate impact on foreign-born Latino workers, at the same time that economic growth in Mexico and other Latin American countries has been stable. Another factor could be a heightened focus on enforcement of immigration laws, which a recent Pew Hispanic Center survey indicates has generated worry among many Hispanics.

September 25, 2008

Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 25, 2008

The Alabama State Board of Education approved a new policy today banning illegal immigrants from the state’s two-year colleges, the Associated Press reported.

The board approved the policy by a vote of 4 to 0. One member abstained, and three others were absent. Also missing from the vote was the board’s president, Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican. The policy changes will take effect in the spring of 2009.

Two advocates for immigrants spoke out against the measure during the meeting, in Pell City, Ala. Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the state’s community-college system, proposed the change, saying Alabama taxpayers should not be asked to foot the bill to educate people who cannot legally work in the state.

The board’s action came one month after North Carolina’s State Board of Community Colleges voted to bar illegal immigrants from enrolling in the state’s 58 community colleges while it commissioned a study on the politically charged issue. —Katherine Mangan

Next month’s issue of Reason Magazine will publish a wonderful graphic to “help” you understand the process of becoming a legal immigrant. Take a look or click here for a larger version:

“Every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the confines of his own country. When there are just reasons in favor of it, he/she must be permitted to migrate to other countries and to take up residence there. The fact that he/she is a citizen of a particular state does not deprive him/her of membership to the human family, nor of citizenship in the universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men.”

Pope John Paul II, 1985

by Barabara Stinson Lee
Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — Urging comprehensive immigration reform in the United States, Bishop John C. Wester invited more than 500 people at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center to look at immigration issues, “through the lens of our Catholic perspective.”

Bishop Wester gave the 2008 Aquinas Lecture, clearly outlining the position of the Catholic Church on issues of immigration, which have become hot-button issues during this election year.

Speaking of the negative words and phrases often heard in immigration debates, Bishop Wester said, “We are social creatures and we are by nature interested in each other and even caring for each other. But what happens to that instinct? Where does it go as we mature? Where do the fences come from? It seems all of a sudden, we hear, ‘not in my backyard,’ or ‘I was here first,’ or ‘Welcome to such and such a place, now go home,’ or ‘certain people need not apply.’”

Bishop John C. Wester responds to spirited questions at the conclusion of the 2008 Aquinas Lecture. The lecture drew a large crowd of parishioners, students, and the public. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

Bishop Wester said how we handle immigration now will determine the future of our country – and the type of country we are – for the 21st century. Drawing from the Scriptural tradition, he used words from Deuteronomy: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Dt. 10-12)

Full article

http://www.borderfilmproject.com/en/index.php

In 2005, three young Americans, Rudy Adler, Victoria Criado, and Brett Huneycutt, whose backgrounds include activism, economics, and advertising, wondered what would happen if they gave disposable cameras to two groups of people on different sides of the border between the United States and Mexico: undocumented migrants crossing into the United States, and American Minutemen trying to stop them. Both groups were asked to document their activities, given postage- paid mailers for the return of their unprocessed film, and were offered different incentives. Minutemen received $25 Shell gas cards, while migrants were given $25 Wal-Mart gift cards. The results can currently be viewed on this website and were published in book form in 2007. They have also been exhibited in galleries throughout the U.S. ranging from Venice, California to Buffalo, New York. The project has collected around 2,000 photos, most of which can be viewed here by clicking on the “Photos” section at the top of the page. There is also a 20-minute video, designed to play as a loop at an exhibition, divided into short segments for
online viewing. [From Internet Scout Project]

Mexicans arrested in restaurant raid

Cindy Leise | The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram (July 24, 2008)

OBERLIN — Immigration officials descended on Oberlin on Wednesday and arrested five employees of Casa Fiesta restaurant as part of a raid of eight restaurants in northern Ohio.

“I’m in shock about what happened,” said Jose Mendez, 42, the manager of the restaurant. “I know the people who worked here — they were good people.”

In all, 54 men and four women were arrested at Casa Fiesta restaurants in Ashland, Fremont, Norwalk, Oberlin, Oregon, Sandusky, Vermilion and Youngstown, according to officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

All 58 of those arrested are citizens of Mexico, and everyone detained is being medically screened and interviewed to determine if they have medical, sole-caregiver or other humanitarian issues, according to the agency.

Already, three women were released on their own recognizance on humanitarian grounds. They will be required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will determine whether they have a legal right to remain in the United States, according to the agency.

Greg Palmore, immigration spokesman, said the raids were the culmination of a year-long investigation.

Mendez was not at the restaurant at 84 S. Main St. when the special agents served the federal search warrant. He arrived later to find a closed notice on the door and paperwork left inside, he said.

Pulling out a card to show he’s legally in the United States, he said he never received any letter questioning his operation and that he wants to do the right thing. He said he’s worked at the restaurant for about three years, and he was considering buying it.

Palmore, meanwhile, said the responsibility rests with the employer to determine if the employee legally can work in the United States.

So far in fiscal year 2008, the agency has made 949 criminal arrests in connection with worksite enforcement investigations. Of those, 105 involve owners, managers, supervisors or human resources employees who face charges ranging from harboring to knowingly hiring illegal aliens.