USA og den illegale immigration

Efter årtiers laden stå til er der endelig tilløb til at USA begynder at håndhæve gældende lov. For tiden opholder over 12 millioner indvandrere sig illegalt i USA, og en halv million slutter sig til dem hvert år. For at i det mindste begrænse antallet har Præsident Bush besluttet at sende 6.000 soldater fra Nationalgarden til den mexikanske grænse for at hjælpe med at arrestere og udvise lovbryderne langs grænsen.

Der er imidlertid dem, der synes det er en dårlig idé. Blandt andet den mexikanske regering, der truer med at lægge sag an, hvis Nationalgarden faktisk hjælper med til at arrestere illegale indvandrere. Man kan undre sig over, hvorfor en suveræn stat støtter massive brud på en nabos lovgivning, men for SFGate.com er forklaringen simpel:

At the heart of the illegal immigration crisis is the dysfunctional relationship between the United States and Mexico. As if distributing a form of international welfare, the United States continues to foot the bill while Mexico does nothing whatsoever to improve its situation. The Mexican government has come to rely on the exportation of its poor in order to stay in power. Instead of meeting the needs of its citizens, Mexico's government has encouraged them to populate the United States.

As Rodolfo Garcia Zamora, an economist and immigration expert at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, told the Contra Costa Times: "For the governing class, immigrants become the solution. They leave. They reduce the political and social pressure ... they can only hope that everybody leaves and sends home collective remittances."

Ved at eksportere sine fattige slipper den meksikanske regering for at høre på dem. Samtidig står USA imidlertid tilbage med regningen. I forbindelse med de illegale immigranters en-dags-"strejke" for et par uger siden opgjorde Tom Tancredo, der sidder i Kongressen for et distrikt i Colorado, hvor meget hans hjemstat ville spare hvis de samtidig afholdt sig fra at nasse på de amerikanske skatteydere samme dag (National Review via Mean Mr. Mustard):

Colorado taxpayers would save almost $3,000,000 in one day if illegals do not access any public services, because illegal aliens cost the state over $1 billion annually according to the best estimates.

Colorado’s K-12 school classrooms would have 131,000 fewer students if illegal aliens and the children of illegals were to stay home, and Denver high schools’ dropout rate would once again approach the national norm.

Colorado’s jails and prisons would have 10-percent fewer inmates, and Denver and many other towns would not need to build so many new jails to accommodate the overcrowding. ..

On a Day Without an Illegal Immigrant, thousands of workers and small contractors in the construction industry across Colorado would have their jobs back, the jobs given to illegal workers because they work for lower wages and no benefits.

Med hensyn til det sidste punkt har Center for Immigration Studies regnet sig frem til, at den meksikanske indvandring op gennem 1990erne (legal såvel som illegal) faktisk har SÆNKET lønningerne for ufaglærte med 5%:

• Though most natives are more skilled and thus do not face significant job competition from Mexican immigrants, this study (consistent with previous research) indicates that the more than 10 million natives who lack a high school degree do face significant job competition from Mexican immigrants.

• By increasing the supply of unskilled labor, Mexican immigration in the 1990s has reduced the wages of workers without a high school education by an estimated 5 percent. The workers affected are already the lowest-paid, comprising a large share of the working poor and those trying to move from welfare to work.

Samtidig er mexikanerne netto en underskudsforretning for USA:

• Because of their much lower education levels, Mexican immigrants earn significantly less than natives on average. This results in lower average tax payments and heavier use of means-tested programs. Based on estimates developed by the National Academy of Sciences for immigrants by age and education at arrival, the lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a negative $55,200.