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The impact of illegal Mexican immigration on the United States has been a major focus of policymakers and the public for well over a decade now. Unfortunately, in the wake of September 11, 2001, America has responded, in the name of national security, that America close it’s self off from the rest of the world. Immigration, in general, has always been part of the American national identity. Because America has a great number of job opportunities for unskilled labor, it is the leading factor of most newcomer Mexican immigrants. A majority of Mexican immigrants come to the states for educational purposes, to reunite with family, and just hope for a better future. The public eye is very diverse on this subject, with some believing Mexican’s should stay in Mexico and others believing that they should have the option to better their life. Mexican immigration is one of the leading problems the Mexican culture faces and they should not be condemned for looking for a better way of life. In terms of illegal immigration, those who migrate from Mexico, secretly to the United States, do not benefit the U.S. The benefits of legal immigration parallel the problems of illegal immigration. Over the past few decades, Mexican immigration into the United States has been on a steady rise. During the early 1900’s the total Mexican-American population was estimated to be between 380,000 and 560,000 (US Census Bureau). In 1910 the Mexican Revolution broke out, a disaster that plummeted Mexico into years of political and economic crisis. A tremendous wave of immigration into the United States followed this crisis, which lasted until the 1930’s. During these years, Mexican-Americans accounted for more than 10 percent of immigrants in the U.S. Through the rest of the 1900’s Mexican immigration increased slowly but steadily. By 1970, the number of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. had reached 800,000. However, in a recent consensus in 2000, the number of Hispanic immigrants had increased by almost 7.2 million. In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican government was unable to improve the lives of it’s citizens. By the late 1930’s, the crop fields in Mexico were harvesting smaller and smaller bounties, and employment became scarce. The Mexican peasant needed to look elsewhere for survival. World War 1 also fueled the fire of Mexican immigration, since Mexican workers performed well in the industry and service fields working in trades such as machinists, mechanics, painters and plumbers. These years were ripe with employment opportunities for Mexicans because much of the U.S. labor force was over seas fighting the war. Mexican immigrants benefit our country in a couple of ways. Mexican immigrants function as a main source of our economic growth. Over the past twenty years, immigration has contributed to at least one- quarter of the nations labor force growth (AILF, 8). Mexican immigrants account for 4% of the U.S workforce (Parel, 4). The supply of Mexican workers has been critical for the expansion of the U.S. industry over the past decade. Even while absorbing 2.9 million Mexican workers in the 1990s, who represent 19 percent of all new workers joining the labor force in that period, the U.S. workforce overall saw it’s unemployment rate fall from 6.3 percent in 1990 to 3.9 percent in 2000 (Gajuin, 2000).
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