Immigration

It is impossible to live in the US and not hear, at least occasionally, about immigration. Usually the voices we hear are angry and impassioned. On the one side, it is argued that illegal immigrants are stealing our jobs and sapping our public services. On the other, cries for amnesty and tolerance are backed by weak or infeasible plans of action. Both sides are calling for reform and I have never been more aware of this need since arriving in Guatemala.

It seems appropriate, during the first few days of a new president to reflect on a system badly in need of repair and to speak of what I’ve seen while living here in Guatemala. Even living in DC and seeing whole neighborhoods of Latin American immigrants, I was unaware of the hugeness of this issue. It is no exaggeration to say that more than half of the people I have met in Guatemala have either been to the US to work, or a family member has, the vast majority of them undocumented.

Guatemala is a country rich with resources and hard working people, but lacking the social structure to ensure that people have jobs and that the wealth that comes from exports actually makes it into the hands of the people. Both relative and abject poverty are rampant, and despite hard work, there are many who go to bed hungry, kids who can’t afford to go to school, and widespread lack of simple necessities like running water, electricity, and sanitation.

Walking through a Guatemalan community one can easily see which families´ incomes are augmented by money coming from the US- their houses are much bigger, the children better dressed, fed, and attending school. Though, I don’t think the dramatic inequity is a good thing, it would be difficult to convince anyone that kids having shoes, something to eat, and an education is a bad thing. Whole municipalities benefit from the remittances as well. During my training I visited a volunteer who said that 60% of the funds of her municipality come from the US. Guatemalans in the US send money back to fund not only their families, but projects for schools, libraries, roads, and churches.

The problem I see is this: it is absolutely unsustainable. Unsustainable for Guatemala in the sense that whole communities are relying on funds coming from people who could be caught and deported in the blink of an eye. The flow of outside resources also creates a false sense of wealth and depresses local markets, causing people to rely on money sent from the US instead of using what tools are in their hands to produce what they need to live.

It is equally unsustainable for the US. Most of the jobs held by undocumented workers are those that Americans do not want, or cannot occupy because the pay is so low (this in itself is a human rights issue, as employers in the US employ undocumented workers who have no legal right to demand a fair wage and therefore work backbreaking jobs for $2-3 an hour). The US has become reliant on cheap labor supplied by migrant workers to deliver our tomatoes to our grocery store at the minimum price. If we were to, in a day, deport all of the workers who live illegally in the US, we would in one sweep, wipe out those who plant, pick, and transport our food. Furthermore, if those workers were replaced by American workers who received a fair wage for a days work, we’d see the price of produce double overnight. Imagine the riots at your local grocery store if tomatoes all of sudden cost $6/lb! (Agriculture is only an example. Migrant workers can be found in nearly every service sector in the US)

All of that to say that the issue is not as simple as talk radio wants us to think it is. I genuinely believe that there’s hope for repairing the system, making it better both for the US and for those who seek work on American soil. Many have proposed a tightening of control on illegal immigration (in safe ways that do not include threatening or endangering the lives of those who try to cross our borders) while also providing a way for those who want to work in the US, a way to do so legally and for fair wages, such as a Guest Worker program. We need the labor, they need the income, and we all need the education that cross-cultural interaction brings.