Yes, it is true that many contractors and employers mistreat and underpay their undocumented workers. And many pay them the going wage. Many use fake social security numbers or a TIN (Tax Identification Number) which the IRS provides to anyone without a SSN so that they can report and pay their income taxes legally – even undocumented laborers. Information about the TIN can be found on the IRS website or just ‘google’ it. All workers of every stripe pay property taxes and sales taxes. Those are the primary funding mechanisms for state, county and local governments. In fact the PEW center and other studies have found a net benefit to the USA, economically, from the undocumented workers, including the fact that they consume up to 5-10% of purchases for food, clothing, transportation, etc. Cut the US economy by another 10% and we’d really be in a Depression.

Fence or military, nothing ever overcomes economic demand – market demand. As I saw this morning on a TV interview, an ex-warden of a prison commented: “I supervised a maximum security prison. We have lock downs. We control and search every person entering the prison. We can search any room at any time and do so constantly. Yet… our #1 biggest problem in prison was illegal drugs. If we could not eliminate drugs in prison where we control absolutely everything, we will never eliminate them in a free society.” Prohibition didn’t work. Why? Market demand. The ‘war on drugs’ has been going on for over 40 years, yet every high school kid in the USA can tell you where to score some pot. Undocumented labor will continue as long as there is unmet demand for workers in the USA. No man-made law has ever overcome market demand. It’s just that simple.

Expatriots who live in other countries still pay income tax to the USA on their earnings from savings or investments. The number of ex-pats who are retired vs those who are working overseas are hard to determine, but a good number of those living in Mexico and elsewhere are still paying US income taxes, regardless.

As far as “open borders,” history tells us that the USA had pretty much wide open, free immigration until the first restriction came about in 1882 – the Chinese Immigration Act. Prior to thios racist (rather openly) 1882 legislation, the most significant act had been in 1798 – raising the residency requirement for becoming a US citizen from 5 years to 14 years. It was directed against Thomas Jefferson (who French and Irish immigrants tended to favor) by the Federalists. And it was repealed in 1802 – a life of 4 years. It wasn’t until 1906 that there were any standards at all for immigration and naturalization. And it wasn’t until 1921 until quotas were placed on nations other than China. So, if your predecessors arrived in the USA at any time from 1776 through 1921, all they basically had to do was show up under the wide open doors policies at the time. There were -essentially- zero “legal” requirements other than being alive at the end of the residency period.

So, immigration was pretty much wide open for 145 years (except for the Chinese who only had 106 years). For the past 89 years, there have been various restrictions, rules and regulations. But the vast majority of US citizens had their ancestors arrive during the wide open doors = zero legal requirements. (simplified for discussion sake)

We could go on and discuss how neo-liberal policies like “free trade” have failed to take into account the movement of labor when both capital (money) and goods/services (products) are allowed to travel freely along with the imbalances created by US farm subsidy and NAFTA policies. It’s all a complex situation, mostly unintentionally caused by our own country – the USA. That these problems continue has more to do with the enrichment of multinational corporations and their lobbying efforts than with any one from Mexico or border fortifications.

“We have met the enemy… and he is us.”

I have been interested in Merida for years and expect to visit this summer. As an American, I really like Mexicans. I’ve lived in AZ and FL and have found Mexican people to be kind, generous, happy people and loving, gentle parents. However, in the real world beyond my opinion and where there are laws; the US and Mexico are 2 separate countries and as such, border laws should be enforced. It’s estimated that there are 10-25 millions illegal immigrants in the US who can’t work legally and who end up working for peanuts under the table and being treated like slaves. In Tucson, the best construction is built by Mexican crews working daily for spare change. This is wrong. In addition, undocumented individuals burden the healthcare system which actually currently encourages illegal immigration by providing unpaid care for anyone who shows up at a hospital.

I agree that the border fence is stupid and does no good except to further upset those on both sides. I do believe that there should be a military presence along the border to escort those who try to cross illegally, back to Mexico. Eventually, the word will get out that illegal immigration doesn’t work and Mexican people will stop risking their lives to cross the border.

The Mexican people aside, the US is fast becoming a welfare state which only works if a considerable percentage of tax-paying US citizens don’t emigrate to MX, Central and South America and other locations, as is happening now. The silent emigration is staggering in size and will continue until the current administration realizes how many tax dollars are leaving the country. When there are far fewer US citizens left who pay taxes, the system will collapse.

To the “free country” comment. Have you been here lately? There are diminishing freedoms here in the US for citizens. “Free” never meant that the borders were open. When my ancestors came through Ellis Island, there were requirements for entry into this country and that was the closest to open borders the US has had since colonial days.

The illegal immigration issue between our countries is terrible and yet ironic. Mexico is populated by hundreds of thousands of Americans who don’t want to live in the US and yet so many Mexicans can’t wait to get there. Oy, Chichuahua.

History is exactly the point: The United States has a nearly two hundred year history of exploiting certain people when they are needed and quite literally throwing them away when they are not. Is that a moral way to behave? An ethical action?

The fervor for forcible expulsions have been so high that many times — documented as many as 40-50% of the people in some cases — American citizens with Hispanic surnames were deported. Where is their rightful home?

At any rate, being a Mexicano, we thought perhaps you would let us know what states of Mexico are being invaded by gringos? Man, I feel your pain. Gringos. ugh. In the meantime, my fingers are crossed for the reconquista.

After much discussion, we decided you must be talking about Guanajuato, right? San Miguel de Allende is there. It’s “been said” that there are too many gringos there. Or maybe you meant Ajijic? Lake Chapala near Guadalajara?

Anyway, Yucatan Living is an educational, newsy, visually-beautiful (in our judgment) website about Merida, Yucatan, Mexico and the sorts of wondrous experiences possible there. Chief among those are the gracious, warm and accepting attitudes of Yucatecan Mexicans.

Visiting a website like this with anti-Mexican-isms is sorta anti-social to say the least and maybe a little odd. There are many other websites where that sort of talk is cheered, enjoyed, welcomed. Enjoy.

In the above comment you briefly scoff at the term íllegal invasion´, then spend the next nine paragraphs waffling about long forgotten and largely irrelevant history before scoffing at it once again. Just which part of the term do you object to exactly – the ´illegal´ bit or the ´invasion´ bit?