Immigration in its most basic meaning means going to another place, and if we think about it carefully, we could stay with that definition. But, the problem would be to define what causes people to leave their place of origin to get to another place where they do not know what to expect, how well or badly they will go, if they will see the families they leave behind or, on the contrary, they will die on the quest for a better future. However, we still fall short on the questions, because now we must ask ourselves what does migration imply in countries at an economic, political, social and even environmental level, what measures should they take, what security would opening their borders give them, how good it is allow passage or how bad it is to close the way to the immigrant. But to be honest, migration is not a new topic,only now it is classified as a crisis, and since it is a crisis, its implications and consequences are more visible to all the parties involved.
In the specific case of Mexico and the United States, history becomes complicated, sometimes desperate and full of triggers that make the migration problem a complicated path, with little progress in terms of solutions and many leaders on both sides full of new ideas that in his opinion will be the solution to an issue that is more than 100 years old.
But, while it is true that immigrants from Mexico were the ones in the eighties who allowed the United States to be what it was about 20 years ago, where cheap labor and the desire to work of the people who arrived, was just what a growing economy full of benefits needed to “sell to the world”, however, the idea was always to use them in those jobs that needed more effort and little pay; Due to this, the US government decided to legalize all Mexican workers so that there was no risk of being illegal, but they did not do so with their families, they only allowed their stay thanks to that worker, hence the famous dreamers (children of migrants, who only know and have known the United States as their homeland).The problem comes when the American economy has its first decline and the migrants did not leave, they stayed, working for whatever it was and their families too, and then the natives believed that foreigners were taking away jobs and well-being, not to mention that their security was threatened. and for their part, those who were here in Mexico were left with the idea that they would have a better life there. And so it was to a certain point, while here in Mexico the crisis was at its peak, Mexico opted for the attraction of FDI and its first step was the inclusion in the GATT, which would mean opening up to world markets and with the signing of NAFTA it signed the sentence of the agricultural sector and, what could people do about this?What seemed more obvious was to emigrate to where they believed was the earthly paradise of every Mexican in need "United States."
At this point we could affirm that everything was nice, until they ran into persecution, accusations, which were exacerbated as a result of the attacks suffered in the United States and that have marked the history of this country with a before and after 9/11. I must admit that here if I agree with the new president of the American Union when he says: “the threat of being a country with open borders is that everything comes to you, good people come to you, bad people come to you and problems come to you. security such as drug trafficking and terrorism ”. But, does Mexico not suffer? and it seems unfair not to see it, the problem is that we do not have presidents who say: "Mexico also has the same threat."
Now stopping immigration is not easy, the measures of the new American president are not the most successful, although you have to understand the fact that he wants to protect his borders, using an anti-immigrant discourse to win elections and attack his neighbors does not seem the best way out., but for a country like the United States that has always been suspicious of foreigners in its territory, having a leader who allows them to say everything they did not dare for fear of being pointed out (personal opinion) seems a good option. In the case of Mexico, government institutions play tricks on it, the weakness of our institutions that generate uncertainty, unfinished or poorly executed laws that affect the economic, political and social sectors,the wars for control of territory between drug traffickers that affect civilians and that force people to immigrate to the northern country and thereby change their lifestyle.
In any case, the immigration issue will always be a multi-dimensional problem caused to a great extent by the effects of other crises, so in the most respectful sense of the issue I would classify it as a consequence of multiple unresolved factors of the country as that the migrant belongs, that incite the individual to leave their lands, toss a coin and settle in unknown lands and hope that with some luck it turns out to be the so longed for earthly paradise that their own land could not be.
Bibliography
Durang, J. (2018). immigration as a threat in the United States.
