Migrants

There is a long winding history in the US of migrants coming over the Mexican border. In 1848 when the US won the Mexican War, there were thousands of property owners who had been citizens of Mexico in California, New Mexico and Arizona. The legal migration after 1848 was US citizens with European ancestry. Many Mexicans lost their ranches. There were also thousands of “Anglo” citizens in the North American Mexican territories.

 

Texas was part of Mexico until 1836 when “Anglo” citizens gained independence and became a State in 1845.

 

There was a free flow of Mexican border crossings after 1848 to all Southwestern border-States.  Poor Mexicans came into the US to find seasonal work on US farms and ranches and this led to a legal, formal program that now requires an A2a visa.

 

In the housing boom after 1945, construction work was largely performed by US citizens, but in the housing boom of the 1980s in the South, Mexicans did the work and did it well. Illegal migration to the US to find work reached 20 million. Many Mexican men would work in the US and send money home to their families in Mexico and they looked forward to going home to Mexico for Christmas and other festivals.  Others moved their families to the US and rented apartments.

 

The Mexican economy was weak and other South and Central American countries were unstable and that prompted families to migrate legally and illegally to the US.

 

In 1955, the population of Mexico was 33 million and 80% were poor. By 1985 the population was 77 million and many were working in the US.

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/mexico-population/

 

Now in 2018 the population is 131 million, the labor force is 53 million, unemployment is 3.44% and the economy is Mexico has grown to $1.2 trillion. Mexico ranks 15^th in GDP on the planet. There is no longer any reason to assume that Mexicans can’t find jobs in Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

 

There is no need to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants including the DACA group.  We need to pass a new merit-based immigration plan and deal with our illegal population using the new plan.  There could be a temporary work permit visa for the children of illegal immigrants, but all would need to qualify based on US labor needs and merit to get a path to citizenship.  This may lead to entire families returning to their home countries and so be it. We also need to include all US employers in the E-Verify process and ensure that illegal immigrants cannot vote in US elections. We don’t have to grant drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. We could either allow them to use their home country licenses or issue a Non-Citizen license to guard against voter fraud.

 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader