Just as in American politics and media, there are people in Mexico who consider the history of migration between this country and its neighbor to the north as a tale just shy of "modern slavery" (a phrase actually coined by one of my editors as a possible title for a piece on Mexican migrants in New York). I disagreed with the title back then and I still do. In my opinion, despite its many flaws and tragic stories, migration between Mexico and the United States is virtuous and symbiotic.
From the Mexican side, migration has had various consequences. Obviously, every migrant's contribution to Mexico's economy is extremely valuable. Remittances provide more than 20 billion dollars a year to Mexico.
However, most of that amount is used to cover daily expenses. Investment in infrastructure is limited, as are savings. Mexico's government has gone far in the last few years to change this with programs such as "tres por uno" (three to one), in which local and federal governments match remittances destined for community investment. These have been particularly successful.
The social and cultural costs of migration are another matter. In many cases, male migrants simply start a new family north of the border and stop sending remittances. Many Mexican provincial towns have developed a new and complicated social structure in which the mother takes on both parental roles, with the costs one can expect from such an arrangement. Migration of the father figure can also lead to other dynamics that end up harming the social balance of their community. Younger members of a family led by a migrant can become parasitic, demanding part of the income provided by remittances. Education can become very difficult as well; without a father, many children find staying in school extremely challenging.
Still, there are cases like that of Benavides Huaroco, a Michoacano migrant I just wrote a piece on for Letras Libres magazine. Mr. Huaroco first arrived in Alabama in 1976, became legal in 1986, and now runs a successful business. His story, full of examples of cooperation and understanding between migrant worker and American employer (and, in many cases, American authorities) looks like an exemplary tale.
Through their hard work and honest living, Mexican migrant workers have earned the right for migration reform. The same could be said of their American employers, who benefit from the migrants' work ethic. Mexico's part of the deal should be to cooperate fully with the United States on the issue of border security, especially with regard to America's safety after 9-11. If such reform comes to fruition, the story of modern Mexican emigration and American immigration will be a fully constructive one.
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