Immigration: Crossing the Border is Not Always Business as Usual Phillippe Diederich - VOXXI
go to original October 25, 2012

U.S. citizens who point to illegal immigration as a drain on the economy, don’t realize that for many Mexicans coming into the country, it’s only seasonal. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Every day thousands of Mexicans cross the border from Mexico to the U.S. Some cross legally, others not. The illegal crossing is dangerous, whether it be the currents of the Rio Bravo, the 25-50 mile hike in the desert, or criminals who pray on migrants. But for many, the risk is worth the reward of finding work in the U.S. so they can send money home and build a better life for themselves and their families. For many Mexicans crossing into the U.S. the journey is not a permanent one, but a one or two year work stint that will give them a leg up financially back in their pueblos.

The reality of crossing the border is a harsh one, but one that is embedded in the culture of Mexico’s rural poor. Going north to work a couple of years is like a rite of passage for most of the young men in these pueblos that suffer chronic unemployment. To go north and work allows family members to send money home. Families can build homes and even start businesses. In Mexico, if you’re poor, that would be impossible.

La Caminata

So many people were leaving the town of Alberto, about 700 miles from the border, it was turning into a ghost town. The people of Alberto, decided to do something about it. They opened a unique amusement ride called, La Caminata, (the walk, or hike). It is a 7.5 mile walk through the desert with a guide who acts as a Coyote. There is a simulated border patrol and sometimes visitors on La Caminata, who each paid $18 for the experience, even get busted by La Migra.

According to news articles and a documentary video, the people of Alberto who started this “ride” said the town had lost about 90 percent of its population to immigration into the U.S. Now that they have the ride, which employs 100 locals, immigration is down to about 65 percent.

Illegal immigration a seasonal thing?

U.S. citizens who are against immigration reform and point to illegal immigration as a drain on U.S. resources and the economy, don’t realize that for many Mexicans coming into the country, it is a seasonal thing. I once met a young man from a small pueblo in Guerrero state who paid $1500 to go to the U.S. Interestingly, the Coyote didn’t just help him cross the border. After they arrived at a safe house in Tucson, AZ, they flew by airplane, and he was delivered to the door of his cousins’ apartment in New York City.

Crossing the border is not easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard. The smallest official border crossing station between Mexico and Texas connects the communities of Los Ebanos in Texas, and Diaz Ordaz, Mexico, via a hand pulled ferry. Like all border communities there are friends and businesses on both sides of the border.

People cross all the time

Unfortunately, the number of illegal crossings is really an indication of the economic problems in rural Mexico, as well as the need for cheap labor in the U.S. The fact is that if there was no employment available for undocumented workers in the agricultural fields, in the meat processing plants, in construction, and even in the food and service industry, we would not be seeing those high numbers of illegal crossings. Why would anyone risk their life to come into the U.S.?

For many poor Mexicans in southern Mexico who cannot afford to pay a Coyote, the migration is not to the U.S. but to the industrial agricultural fields in places like Sinaloa, where huge corporate conglomerates own vast fields of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Here, conditions are truly dismal and pay is next to nothing. For some migrants, this is a stop for a couple of seasons to earn enough to pay the Coyote to take them to the U.S. where better pay is an opportunity for hard working men and women.

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