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Understanding the Roots of Migration: The Debate in the U.S.
April 24, 2006

Friends,

In recent days, millions have taken to the streets to protest unjust immigration policies and to influence legislation under debate in the Senate. Many of you have called your senators letting them know your views on pending legislation. Our work is far from finished.

On May 1st, show your solidarity with undocumented immigrants by participating in “The Great American Boycott 2006—a day without an immigrant" ("El Gran Paro Americano 2006—un día sin inmigrante"). For information about actions going on in different parts of the country, see www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org and www.NoHR4437.org.

Legislation in the House of Representatives, HR 4437, would make the presence of undocumented persons in the U.S. a felony punishable by jail time, immediately qualifying 12 million people in this country for sentencing. The bill criminalizes humanitarian assistance to the undocumented, putting churches, social service providers, and “good Samaritans” at risk nationwide, and increases sanctions against those who employ them.

Our nation is deeply divided on immigration issues. The country’s 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants are variously described as an occupying army of thieves, snatching jobs and subverting our laws, or as a wholesome community of strivers, eager to build families and chase the American dream.

A majority of the undocumented workers come from Mexico.

Although many people in the U.S. blame migrants for taking “our jobs”, Witness for Peace believes that the real blame lies with neo-liberal trade policies endorsed by our own government. In the twelve years since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passed:

• Mexico has seen over 1.5 million farmers displaced by the dumping of cheap corn imports from U.S. producers.
• Many of these rural workers have migrated to the border cities, where they have sought employment in maquilas (foreign owned assembly plants or garment factories), more than tripling the population of these free trade centers.
• The purchasing power of the minimum wage (about $4.50 US/day) declined by more than 20 percent.
• Other displaced workers who have lost their jobs due to maquilas closing in search of cheaper labor have decided to make the perilous journey to the United States: It is estimated that Mexican immigration to the U.S. has doubled since NAFTA began.

Uprooted from their communities by economic policies that have destroyed their livelihoods, more and more Mexicans cross the border in hopes of making a future for themselves and their children. These migrants are refugees of an economic war that leaves scars in the fabric of community life in the small towns that send migrants north each year.

The U.S. depends on migrants for their labor and the Mexican government depends on them to send money home to their families. In 2005 Mexicans living abroad sent more than 20 billion dollars in remittances back to their communities in Mexico. These remittances take the place of the subsidies that were phased out as part of the requirements for neoliberal structural adjustment.

Neither HR 4437 nor the Senate compromise bill address the basic questions about immigration: Why do people leave their homes and families behind and often risk their lives to migrate to the U.S.? Why are they willing to accept jobs paying far below minimum wage?

This summer Witness for Peace offers delegations to Mexico with a special focus on migration. These delegations will challenge delegates to learn about the realities not discussed in the current immigration debate. They will spend time in communities in southern Mexico to learn about the roots of migration. Other delegations in the future may visit the U.S.-Mexico border with Witness for Peace partner organizations.

• June 27-July 6, 2006: The Human Cost of Globalization—Roots of Exploitation and Migration. Ten days, $960 US plus airfare. Deadline for applications: May 10. Sponsored by the New England Region of Witness for Peace. (Call Joanne Ranney at 802-434-2980, EDT, or write wfpne@witnessforpeace.org.)
• July 23-31, 2006: Free Trade and the Roots of Migration. Nine days, $870 US plus airfare. Deadline for applications: June 4. Sponsored by the Witness for Peace Northwest Region. (Call Leo Gorman at 503-327-5757, PDT, or write lgorman1@hotmail.com.)

We hope that one of these delegations will work for you. Please also alert your friends and associates to these opportunities. As one former Mexico delegate wrote, “There has been virtually no discussion in the United States regarding the connection between agricultural policy and its impact on rural Mexico, and migration issues. This is the perspective I’ve been trying to bring to conversations, and it is a perspective I would have lacked had I not participated in the delegation.”

All are welcome to submit applications for either of these delegations. Further information and application forms are available at www.witnessforpeace.org, or by contacting the delegation coordinators listed above, or Vera Wiedenbeck at vera@witnessforpeace.org.

If the above dates do not work for you or others who might be interested, please check with us regularly, as Witness for Peace will continue to offer delegations to Mexico. Please contact us for further information. We are also willing to arrange delegations specifically for interested groups: students, labor, sister cities, religious congregations, etc. Please contact betsy@witnessforpeace.org.

In solidarity,
The WFP Mexico Team