U.S. Relations with Mexico and Central America, 1977-1999
The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies CCIS University of California, San Diego U.S. Relations with Mexico and Central America, 1977-1999 By Marc Rosenblum University of California, San Diego Working Paper 10 May 2000 2 U.S. Relations with Mexico and Central America, 1977-1999 Marc Rosenblum Introduction This dissertation, takes issue with the null hypothesis that Congress acts alone to make immigration policy in response to domestic interest group demands. Rather, I argue that both the president and migrant-sending states care about, and seek to influence, U.S. immigration policy; and I argue the president, with varying degrees of success, seeks to use immigration as a tool of foreign policy. In this chapter, I focus on U.S. immigration relations with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua between 1977 and 1999. I have intentionally chosen a set of countries which have often sent large numbers of immigrants to the United States and, on the surface, appear to care about U.S. immigration policy. During the time period under consideration, U.S. relations with each of these countries have undergone important shifts: while relations with all four are very positive in the late 1990s, relations were strained, at best, with Mexico and Nicaragua during the 1980s, while the United States supported the right wing governments of El Salvador and Guatemala in civil wars during the 1980s. U.S.- Mexican underwent a similar, though less profound shift within the 1970s as well.. Second, these countries have also varied in their importance, from the perspective of the United States: Mexico became very important during the 1970s when new-found Mexican oil reserves became extremely appealing during the U.S.
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