Dear HCN, Your story on the Mexican-American border
described in intimate detail the life of an illegal trying to
cross, but we are not addressing the root cause of the problem
(HCN, 10/9/00: The hunters and the hunted: The Arizona-Mexico
border turns into the 21st century frontier).
We think the solution to this problem is to create jobs on both
sides of the border that will employ non-skilled and semi-skilled
workers so that they won’t need to migrate here in search of jobs.
The College of Engineering at New Mexico State University is
interested in creating a talent pool of young engineers who will
stay in the immediate vicinity to help create these jobs by
creating more manufacturing facilities in the region around El
Paso-Las Cruces.
One thing I see as I travel
around the country consulting for various companies is the presence
of illegals everywhere. Just go into any Wal-Mart and look at the
customer population. I bet that even in Paonia, Colo., if you look
carefully, you can find a few illegals. They tend to get across the
border and find the backwater places so that they can live in
peace, and will work for far less than most locals to stay here.
While I agree in part with your essayist,
Corine Flores, that they may be taking some American jobs, we need
these people. Here in Santa Fe, the local youth want to start
working at nonskilled jobs at wages that are outrageous. A
contractor told me that local people who come to him to ask to
learn how to drive a backhoe want $15 to start – with no skills and
no heavy-machinery experience. The contractor can hire an illegal
who will start at maybe $7 per hour and learn how to use the
machine and work his way up to the $15 per hour wage over a period
of six months to a year.
Meanwhile, there is a
whole network of people here in the states who prey upon these
people. In order to go to work for some company like Wal-Mart, they
have to have a green card and a social security number. These are
available from unscrupulous people who will make up a fake SSN and
a very good-looking but fake green card – all for a fee. The SS
card costs $75.
Bottom line: There is a lot
more to the story than just the interaction with the Border Patrol.
You could explore how these people live once they get into the
United States. It would include how they find “safe” places to live
and how they avoid the police and other law-enforcement authorities
and how they manage to live on a level of income that is way below
the poverty line here.
Bob
Skaggs
Santa Fe, New Mexico
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline We need illegal immigrants.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
