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An Unwritten Alliance: Mexican Policy on Emigration to the United States
| Article
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10914 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1986 |
10,252 Words |
| Author
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David R. Maciel
David R. Maciel is associate professor of history at the
University of New Mexico, where he specializes in the history
of modern Mexico and the American southwest. |
Mexican emigration to the United States is undoubtedly the most complex and difficult issue currently facing the two countries. The controversy and debate include economic, political, legal, cultural, and human-rights considerations. In determining emigration policies as they relate to both countries, a multitude of interest and pressure groups are involved, ranging from big business to civil-rights organizations. Mexican emigration to the United States has a long historical tradition, dating from the late nineteenth century and continuing to the present. It involves one of the largest population movements in history: it has been estimated that around 20 percent of Mexico's total population has emigrated to the Untied Sates in less than a hundred-year period. Mexican emigrants have contributed significantly to the economic and social development of the United Sates, at times and in certain areas being the dominant labor force.
For Mexico, the constant emigration of its citizenry has posed a major dilemma. From one standpoint, emigration north to the United States has served as a safety valve, relieving pressures on the Mexican state of those not incorporated into the active labor force. On another level, however, the loss of a significant number of workers at the peak of their productivity has been a work drain. Moreover, emigration by any standards is a humiliating acknowledgment. Clearly, emigration to the United States reveals the deficiencies of Mexico's developmental policies and has forced Mexico and its people to admit the shortcomings of the Mexican Revolution.
In earlier years, foreign policy in Mexico was formulated and shaped by the president with the advice of the minister of foreign relations. Since the 1970s, however, foreign policy--particularly the issue of emigration to the United States--has included the participation an input of various political parties, key organizations, institutions, select interest groups, and academics.
In confronting the reality of emigration, Mexico has not altogether ignored nor written off its nationals across the border. Mexico has formulated a policy characterized by the restraint of not interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign country but at the same time providing protection and assistance to Mexican nationals in the United State. For over a century, Mexico has carried out specific emigration policies toward its citizens across the Rio Bravo. Although varied, complex, and at times contradictory, this policy has emphasized legal and civil protection of Mexicans abroad. The primary agent of Mexico's emigration policy in the United States has
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