There has been much angst lately about immigration, especially the illegal kind. This country has built walls along the border with Mexico. We are patrolling with armed guards, futuristic drones, and even retro horseback riders. God forbid that any aliens should sneak into the USA.
We apparently have no problem with our Canadian border. Our northern neighbors can come and go freely. We welcome them. Perhaps we give them a bit of a break because they accepted so many of our boys fleeing the draft, and the war in Vietnam. Americans still have guilt about that war.
We may also owe Canada some gratitude about the Iranian hostage incident (beginning late in 1979, and not ended until 1981, 444 days later).
On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats were hidden in Swiss and Canadian embassies. The Canadian Parliament held a secret session to pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. The American diplomats left Iran in 1980. This is now known as the “Canadian Caper.”
But, our neighbors from Mexico and Central America – well, that’s quite different. For a very long time they have snuck across the border for jobs, education, health care, and the possibility of a better life. They are, for the most part, unwanted.
Since 1970, the Mexican-born population of the US has risen steeply, reaching a peak of more than 12 million in 2010. From 1994-1999 some 3 million Mexicans came to the US and fewer than 700,000 left it.
We see many immigrants in our local big-box stores. They appear in small groups, three or four, clustered around the vegetable bins. They seem to be conferring with each other about their purchases.
My friend, Jo Shumake, is fluent in Spanish, and often tries to engage them. They are usually guarded, uninterested in conversation.
I imagine these workers must be frightened. They are here to help their families, but isolated from them. The Golden Triangle has made a home for them – sort of.
We can tell by their wrinkled and dusty clothes that they are employed in some back-breaking labor. (Several of those who recently installed our new roof spoke no English at all.) We know that they pay rent. (I have a friend who rents a small house to them.) They shop at our stores, pay utilities, buy gas. They are involved in local dynamics, but, certainly not integrated into our culture.
Their life must be sad and very lonely. They fill a need. They are not part of us.
But, now something weird is happening. The numbers are reversing. The flow of Mexicans into the US has shrunk for the first time in forty years. A survey from the Pew Hispanic Center finds that the largest wave of immigration in history to have taken place from a single country has now been brought to a virtual standstill.
Some credit can be attributed to harsh anti-illegal immigration laws introduced in several states, including Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The new statistics suggest that the tough laws are to some extent working.
However, the poor state of our economy may explain much more about the dip in numbers. Not only are aliens not coming, but immigrants are also leaving in huge numbers. The US is no longer a place rich with the possibility of fulfilling immigrant goals through hard work.
It may be that all the fear and terror of an invasion of illegals was for naught. This might also have a big impact in this election year. Immigration policy has provided an intense division in attitudes between the presidential candidates.
There is so much more to witness before it all plays out. I wonder now, if we will eventually regret our inflexible attitudes? Maybe, someday, we will send engraved invitations, written in Spanish, to our southern neighbors saying, “Please come back. We miss you.”
Adele Elliott, a New Orleans native, moved to Columbus after Hurricane Katrina. E-mail reaches her at [email protected].
Adele Elliott, a New Orleans native, moved to Columbus after Hurricane Katrina.
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