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If History Had a Voice: a Comprehensive Discussion of U.S.-Mexican Immigration Policy

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If History Had a Voice: a Comprehensive Discussion of U.S.-Mexican Immigration Policy If History had a Voice: A Comprehensive Discussion of U.S.-Mexican Immigration Policy Danielle Casey International Studies Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Passe-Smith Political dialogue between the United States and Mexico, and among D.C. bureaucrats and Southern border-state politicians has long been characterized by the hot topic of illegal immigration—an issue subject to much controversy and propositions of reform. Yet, despite these reforms, little progress has been made to effectively curb illegal immigration and address the growing issue of illegal residency. This is, in part, a result of the U.S.’s vested economic and political interests in illegal immigration. Mexico, on the other hand, perceives this outflow of Mexican labor as a symbol of dependence and weakness. In an attempt to rectify this image, Mexico has liberalized their economy to attract foreign investment and create more jobs, and has passed laws against the aiding of illegal immigration (Henderson 2011 and Spener 2005). However, competing state interests of the U.S. and Mexico have rendered effective border policy reform an enigma. In order to remedy these historical failures, economic incentives of illegal immigration must CLA Journal 5 (2017) pp. 1-23 2 Casey be stifled, opportunity for legal border entry must be facilitated, and issue of illegal residency must be addressed. Relevant History U.S.-Mexican immigration policy has demonstrated that, when channels of legal immigration are restricted and the economic stakes are high, illegal immigration will increase— regardless the amount of border fortification. Consequently, if illegal immigration is going to be effectively addressed, reforms must target the economic incentives that encourage this illicit behavior. The Economic Incentives In the early 1880s, illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexican border began under a number of problematic conditions, the primary being the poor and unstable nature of the Mexican economy (Spener 2005). Though Mexico’s economy was under-developed—especially in relation to the U.S.—President Diaz’s decision to open the Mexican economy to foreign investment, initiate rapid industrialization, and expand the country’s mining industry and “plantation-based agro- export sector,” only exacerbated the issue (Spener 2005, 4). The wealth that Mexico subsequently accrued was unequally distributed among class and region, prompting disenfranchised Mexicans to seek economic opportunity elsewhere—specifically in the U.S. This labor movement was further enabled by train lines that were built between the U.S. and Mexico, and by U.S. labor demands. Towards the end of the 19th century, the U.S. began expanding their agricultural and mining industry, which dramatically increased the demand for foreign laborers. Despite the ban on the importation of contract labor, U.S. employers began to illegally recruit Mexican workers. These economic conditions and incentives established the U.S.’s ‘pull’ for Mexican labor and Mexico’s ‘push’ from lack of economic opportunity—practically guarantying the flow of illicit labor (Spener 2005). CLA Journal 5 (2017) 3 If History had a Voice Immigration along the Southern border remained largely unregulated and unrestricted until the U.S. the Immigration Act of 1917 (Spener 2005). In an attempt to limit and control immigration, this act required all immigrants to pass a literacy test and pay an $8 fee before legal U.S. entry could be granted. Despite these restrictions, the growth of the U.S. economy in the 1920s, in addition to Mexico’s precarious economic stability, established conditions that “clearly created strong incentives for U.S. enterprises to continue recruiting Mexican laborers and for Mexican workers to continue crossing the border in search of work” (Spener 2005, 22). In response to this growth in clandestine border crossing, the U.S. created the Border Patrol in 1924; however, illegal immigration remained predominantly unabated and the 1920s was marked by the border’s first rise in coyotes (Spener 2005, 22). Essentially, a coyote was an “illegitimate facilitator of bureaucratic procedures” who found ways to circumvent the bureaucratic red tape of border crossings—predominantly characterized by copious time delays, unresponsive policies, and excessive bribery (Spener 2005, 1). These restrictions rendered illegal immigration cheaper and faster than the legal route, and catalyzed the process by which clandestine border crossing became an institutionalized business of political and economic interest, on both the side of the U.S. and Mexico (Spener 2005). U.S. immigration policy in the 1940s through mid-1960s was characterized by the implementation of the Bracero Program—a bi- lateral, agricultural, guest worker program between the U.S. and Mexico (Spener 2005, 32). In light of the U.S.’s entry into WWII and rising labor demands, this program stood to benefit the U.S. Though the purpose of the Bracero Program was to facilitate legal immigration, this was not to be the case. Not only was there an endemic shortage of available contracts, but the program was rife with bureaucratic hurdles, fees, delays and political corruption and—for most—bracero contracts came to resemble an elusive employment hope, rather than a viable 4 Casey employment option (Spener 2005, 35). As a result, clandestine border- crossings dramatically increased and, between 1943 and 1953, “the number of Mexican apprehensions by the Border Patrol had risen... more than 100 times” (Spener 2005, 39). Although the program was later terminated in 1964, this failed to end the flow of illegal immigration that the program facilitated. Additionally, when bracero contracts expired, laborers—instead of returning to Mexico—chose to over-stay their visas and continue working in the U.S. Unfortunately, the issue of illegal immigration and residency was further compounded by the 1965 Hart- Celler Act, which capped the number of legally admitted immigrants from the Western Hemisphere at 120,000 (Spener 2005, 44). In 1978, this hemispheric cap was replaced by “an annual world-wide cap of 290,000 immigrant visas, subsequently lowered to 270,000 in 1980” (Spener 2005, 45). These limitations substantially restricted the ability of Mexican immigrants to legally enter the U.S. and, in 1986, the number of border apprehensions swelled to a record 1,767,400 (Spener 2005, 45). Furthermore, reports from the late 1970s and early 1980s indicated that a majority of Mexican immigrants began utilizing coyotes as a resource in their border-crossing endeavors (Spener 2005, 46). This response to regulation demonstrated that visa availability, alone, could not resolve the issue of illegal immigration and residency, prompting the U.S. to switch tactics and begin the militarization of the U.S.-Mexican border. U.S. Border Militarization In the 1970s, the U.S. began increasing border security in an attempt to stem the seeming proliferation of clandestine border- crossing. Between 1970 and 1980, the number of border patrol agents grew by a little less than a thousand, an increase that was accompanied by the installation of new technology (such as motion, heat, and sound sensors), militaristic hardware, and steel fences (Spener 2005, 48-49). This escalation of border fortification doubled the budget of the CLA Journal 5 (2017) 5 If History had a Voice Immigration and Naturalization Service Agency (INS), and what was once a border soon resembled a warzone (Spener 2005, 49). This police expansion reached unprecedented levels in the 1990s, which was, in part, due to the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986—a reform that sought to address the concern of illegal immigration by introducing employer sanctions and limiting the legalization program. Though well intentioned, this policy facilitated more illegal behavior. Illegal immigration increased, employer sanctions failed to be properly enforced, business for fraudulent documents boomed, and coyotes adapted their border-crossing techniques to accommodate border militarization and continue legal evasion (Spener 2005). These unintended consequences succeeded in increasing the sophistication, organization, and institutionalization of the border smuggling business, and set the stage for politicians to use illegal immigration as a platform for political gain (Spener 2005). Politicians began taking very public stances against illegal immigration, creating an image of a border overrun and under siege. The public’s ensuing fear of illegal immigration enabled politicians to introduce false nostalgic rhetoric of a border once under control. Political parties, rather than question the validity of this dialogue, folded illegal immigration into their policy platforms, adding gravity and volume to the message of a border wildly out of control—a message that characterizes public’s opinion to this day (Andreas 2000). This political backlash to illegal immigration put the U.S. on the offensive in the subsequent creation of border policy. A philosophy of ‘prevention by deterrence’ was adopted and, between 1993 and 1999, the budget of the INS nearly tripled, and the number of border patrol agents in the Southwest more than doubled. This escalation of force was further exacerbated by the Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996, which called for the hiring of “1,000 new Border Patrol agents a year… (and) the construction of new physical barriers” 6 Casey (Andreas 2000, 90-91). In addition, the military began assisting the INS in patrolling the border, and “technologies
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