Job Discussion Forums

[cgage]

Throughout the years Mexicans have risked their lives trying to cross into the US inside suffocating trailors, and through scorpian infested filthy border sewers etc. Yet we are lined up trying to get various permissions and visas to live there. I don't get it. I guess its because we are seeking much more higher status positions.
(can it be assumed that Mexico has a stable and growing economy to reliably nurture these enterprises and provide old age security?)
Or there are some people for whom it is a temporary adventure and an added curriculum vitae for a portfolio.
Others may be born adventureres who don't believe tomorrow exists
(like i used to be
I'd love to live in prosperous and stable Europe but the E.U. restricts nearly all Americans from working there legally.

So how is it that some see Mex as a romantic Hollywood movie set while the natives are literally dying to escape?
Is Mexico the well kept secret paradise? Hell, its only 16 hours from my driveway.

"I'd rather be a garbage man in New York than the Mayor of Paris"
-Popeye Doyle
"I'd rather be a garbage man in Paris than the Mayor of New York"
-cgage

[ls650]

Mexico can be a paradise - if you have the money to enjoy it. Most of the folks crossing into the US sin documentos are dirt poor, and it's the only realistic chance they have to make a better life for themselves.

My Spanish teacher crossed over in September. Before she left, she worked 6 or 7 days a week as both an admin assistant for an air conditioner repair centre and as a taxista. She earned perhaps 5000 pesos in a good month, and has dreams of buying a piece of land to build a small B&B here. She's never going to do that on 5000 pesos a month, so she told me about a month before she left what she was up to. How could I discourage her from going? Realistically it's the only way she'll ever have the opportunity to make the money necessary for her dream.

She went up to north and was caught twice crossing into Arizona. The third time she crossed in a more remote region of New Mexico and made it - but she had to walk through the mountains for three nights, drinking water from creeks and watching out for snakes. She's now working in a furniture factory making about 4000 pesos a week.

As for why I'm here, it snowed 50 centimeters in Vancouver yesterday, and the high was predicted to be -6c. That's it. I can't stand that kind of weather.

[Samantha]

Oh yeah...that was brutal for lower mainland BC

[Guy Courchesne]

There are, at least, two Mexicos (and I'd say many more than that). Modernizing Mexico is not producing enough jobs to keep up with the birthrate, nor for underdeveloped areas. NAFTA and globalization (broadly speaking) have provoked massive changes, particularly in agriculture, which affects the poorest and most undereducated, who are the people illegally going north, mostly. That's the Mexico side of the equation.

Here's an essay you might like to catch the other side.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20061101faessay85606/tamar-jacoby/immigration-nation.html

[business2300]

Interesting read

[gordogringo]

The biggest problems the migrants have in the US is being taken advantage of. In the US there are two levels of undocumented immigrant.
The first is the housekeeper, nanny, day laborer type. They are most vulnerable to sleazebag employers taking advantage of them. The employers know they are illegal and will pay them less than agreed and make up false deductions.Who could they complain to?

The second is the more resourceful type that has either a taxpayer id number (can be given over the phone and used in place of a Social Security card) no id required, or is using a dead Mexican Americans name and social security card. They work in the factories and pay over 300 million dollars each year to Social Security that they never collect on.

Both are vulnerable to immigration busts and have to leave the house each day knowing they might get scooped up. They have a variety of safety nets to ensure money gets home even if they are in jail.

I am going on my third year here on the border and while life is good for me I can understand why people want to cross over. Being an immigrant activist as well I have met several crossing,brought food and water to several groups waiting to cross and the dedication to doing this is phenomenal.Should be a point of shame for Mexico that its poorer citizens have to cross the border to make it and support thier families. I do believe that the majority of those crossing are both tough and heros to thier communities. Very sadly there are more than 3000 white crosses strewn across the California/Mexico border for those heros that are not coming home.

Anybody curious about the real role that immigrants from Mexico play in the US should see the movie " A day without a Mexican" a funny yet amazingly accurate documentary type movie. Just as it shows the western US would pretty much collapse without them.

[reddevil79]

...or listen to this radio download from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/4555783.stm

[cangringo]

I can't speak for others but hubby and I came here partly because we have an adventurous spirit and partly because we love the culture and the people and we want to experience it firsthand, not at tourist resorts.

Once we get out of Monterrey, we also hope to enjoy a less hectic lifestyle - well to be honest we already do even though it's still a very fast paced city. People have cell phones but I find our friends aren't constantly on them. The younger people seem to use them a lot but it's still a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Wish it was the weather but the weather here ain't that great. Hoping to get to some better weather soon though.