NAFTA Causes Mexican Misery And Illegal Immigration

Our public and political discussion on the above problem is reduced to an often vitriolic and evasive debate over "Illegal Immigration." The debate is evasive in that it is still taboo in the US to recognize and discuss Illegal Immigration and NAFTA as the co-joined siblings of a cruel and worsening economic displacement problem.

[Global: The Americas]

President Obama has wisely given up smoking – perhaps he can bring similar rationality and good judgment to our NAFTA economic displacement problem.

By doing so – halt the political chicanery of labeling it as simply an immigration issue.

Thanks largely to NAFTA and the deceptively named “Freedom To Farm Bill”, millions of Mexican farmers has been forced off their land. To make matters even worse, since US agribusiness has jumped on the ethanol-from-corn bandwagon, people in Mexico can’t even afford corn tortillas, a staple of their diet for generations.

The above hardship leaves poor Mexicans the choice of living in desperate conditions at home or violating US immigration laws for the opportunity to be exploited by various US corporate interests. Further, as people working under false identities, devoid of normal work place rights the undocumented immigrants suppress the wages or eliminate the jobs for competing American labor.

Our public and political discussion on the above problem is reduced to an often vitriolic and evasive debate over “Illegal Immigration.” The debate is evasive in that it is still taboo in the US to recognize and discuss Illegal Immigration and NAFTA as the co-joined siblings of a cruel and worsening economic displacement problem.

Discussing Illegal Immigration and avoiding a discussion of the “Trade Laws” that cause it is like a smoker complaining about “shortness of breath” but insisting that his cigarettes are an unrelated issue , and more , that his breathing would be even worse but for the beneficial respiratory exercise he gets from smoking.

As most “Baby Boomers” recall , tobacco companies once claimed some healthful benefits for smoking, so the analogy is certainly apt , motivationally speaking; except NAFTA’s beneficial effects may be even more illusory than those claimed for cigarettes.


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