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Mexico-USA Migration
10,000 people cross the Mexican border every week, each have their own reasons but the factors that influence them are the same. They want to live out the American Dream of a better life.
Many people find living in rural Mexico a struggle because they have to survive with very little money, 40% of the population is under the poverty line this is over 3 times as the USA that has 12% (2003 est. CIA world fact book). The lack of resources makes life harder to gain money too; the land is in little quantity and of poor quality. This is because as the land gets passed down in the family, it gets distributed equally amongst all the offspring, fragmenting it. There is also the growing population that is putting pressure on the land to produce more, this leads to the land being exhausted and it loses al its nutrients making it useless. The rural communities cant support the growing population and the population can’t support their families so they try to go to America where there is minimum wage laws that will ensure they will make, relatively, a lot of money to bring home: what they make in a whole day at home would be an hours work in the USA. It is often the fathers of big families that have to cross the border, then send home bundles of money or return to their homes.
The desert that separates the USA and Mexico can reach 46°C, many people suffer dehydration when they are crossing as water would weigh them down and the border patrol may catch them. In the past 3 years 851immigrants have died and 4,000 have been rescued from the verge of death (BBC news 2001). Many of these deaths are blamed on the “coyotes” people that charge around $2,000 to smuggle immigrants across the border, but then leave them In the American desert under the sun. An estimated 10,000 people try to smuggle over the border every week, 1 in 3 get caught and those that do try at least twice a year. The runners face other dangers than being caught and sent back though, some people choose to take the 15-hour hike through the night, and they leave masses of litter and abandoned belongings across the desert. Some try to cross the Rio Grande but it has claimed the lives of many people that have gone through it.
In some places the border is marked by a 5m wall, this wall goes for 3000km, other places just have a few stands of barbed wire that have been bent out of shape to fit people through. The Mexican government has given up trying to stop people crossing the border, and has instead started issuing out “manuals” of how to get to America safely; with hints such as
- Not crossing a river alone and at night
- Wearing light clothing - "heavy clothing becomes heavier when wet, and this makes swimming or floating difficult"
- Adding salt to fresh water to avoid dehydration
- Walking during times of low heat
The government says, "The guide clearly states that the safe and appropriate way to enter any country is with a valid passport and a visa, and in no way promotes undocumented immigration,”
There are many reasons for The USA not wanting all these illegal immigrants; recently it has been a concern that there may be terrorists crossing the border, since there is no customs it would be easy to smuggle dangerous weapons, chemicals and epidemics in. There is also the fact that the immigrants do not demand so much money for work so the employer chooses them because it adds to their profits, this stops the locals getting jobs and increases unemployment rates. It also causes resentment that leads to violence and crime. In march 2004 President Bush met with President Fox of Mexico and agreed to ease off the immigration controls, he said that it was to reduce the number of deaths caused and to become closer with Mexico but was said to have been trying to claim the Hispanic vote before election. There is the environmental perspective too; the rubbish left in the desert destroys ecosystems
Adults’ moving out of the rural communities all over Latin America also causes problems, knowledge about farming and living off the land does not get passed down, this terminates the methods of generations of experience. This makes the people left behind more deprived because they find it hard to sustain them.
An estimated 30% of Mexico’s population are said to rely on money sent from the US. If this continues, illegal immigrants will play a key part in their home countries economy and politics.
Comments
These notes are aimed at students studying for Edexcel B geography A Level for the 'Population and the Economy' section, though will be suitable also for people studying with different exam boards and at different levels.
They were originally submitted by Mighty Milly in this thread on TSR Forums.
