Cause and effect

With the immigration debate becoming murkier and more controversial by the day, as demonstrated by the angry letters and columns appearing in The Diamondback, everyone seems to have an opinion, but no one seems to have a solution that will please, or at least appease, most people. However, I think one of the main things that has been overlooked in this whole mess is not if they should be allowed to come, but why they do - and in such large numbers.

Although this issue has many facets, including racial and financial concerns, I truly believe if Mexico, the main source of U.S. immigrants, weren't so corrupt, fewer people would want to leave and come here, thus diffusing the immigration issue and lessening some of the strain America is facing.

Firstly, why is the Mexican economy in such shambles? According to a 2003 article by Jerry Kramer, "the three-year administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox and his feuding within the leading political parties has thwarted proposals designed to benefit millions of Mexico's poor."

He goes on to charge that "Mexico's feeble tax-collecting system fails to collect funds needed to finance roads, schools and hospitals; a regulatory thicket strangles business start-ups; the arthritic state-owned energy industry lacks capital to grow; and a notoriously unprofessional judicial system tilts the social playing field to the well connected."

Mexico has long been associated with corrupt governmental practices; many thought the first free-and-fair election in 2000, which put Vicente Fox in office, might end that. Instead, Fox has continued to dole out favors to his cronies in a sort of spoils system and ignores the impoverished, who make up a majority of the population.

George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary, said, "People are leaving Mexico because too many Mexican politicians act in a self-serving way and exploit their enormously wealthy country."

Susan Reed, the author of Mexico's Corruption, Washington's Indifference, details the pervasive effects of the drug trade in Mexico. According to Reed, "Mexico's drug corruption is so pervasive that legitimate trade with Mexico is inextricably entangled with it - you have legitimate Mexican businesses laundering drug money and U.S. Embassy personnel in Mexico negotiating trade deals."

This past April, Mexico's Congress approved a bill decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, for personal use. Officials in Mexico are just as corrupt as Fox; bribes are commonly offered to police in exchange for not enforcing laws or even aiding in breaking them. Robert Nieves, a former chief of International Operations for the DEA, explains, "You're offered a bribe. If bribery doesn't work, you're offered violence. And that violence will be exacted against you or your family members." In Mexico, this choice is called "plata o plomo," - silver or lead.

Charles Bowden, author of While You Were Sleeping, states Mexican prices, on average, run at 90 percent of U.S. prices, while income is clearly not even close to that. From 1995 to 1997, wages in the maquiladoras have risen 50 percent, but inflation during that period was well over 100 percent.

Prostitution is common and accepted in Mexico; it seems to be the only way some of the maquila workers can make an extra buck. But factories require a girl can't be pregnant if she wants to keep her job. In fact, according to Bowden, some have been known to require women to bring in bloody tampons for three months to prove it.

A corrupt government that cares for little except padding its pockets; cities where prostitution and back-breaking factory work for unfair pay are the only options to survive; a haphazard, broken infrastructure; law enforcement officials who accept bribes and rape and kill at will; is it any wonder the Mexican exodus to the United States is happening in such substantial numbers?

Nikkee Porcaro is a junior journalism major. She can be reached at cole120@umd.edu.