Migration

In the 1990’s the pattern was clear. A business deal to produce a product like toys was made in the US, the manufacturing was done in Mexico, the characters and branding for the toys were Japanese and the people who maintained the office were from Mexico, albeit living in the United States and the product in the end went all over the world.

Now the most popular character for younger children in the world today is Dora the Explorer, who is a character of a child of Latin American descent who is tremendously popular in the US and abroad. Unfortunately her character’s toys are not bringing jobs to Mexico despite the cultural links, but are being produced in China. The problem is that this time international politics, the Olympics and suicide in China by one of the top officials in an American toy company surrounds an unclear pattern of how culture, politics and lead paint has produced a scandal that could spark a trade war due to a fictional Mexican girl who is Made in China.

Nearly a month ago it was discovered that many of the Mattel toys coming to the US from Chinese manufacturing plants had too much lead in the paint they used to be suitable for toys for young children. Mattel’s apology was appropriate and reasonably responsive and many toy lines were recalled in turn. A rash of criticisms of China abounded in US media after a number of product recalls, included tainted pet food which killed a few unlucky animals and send a mid-level Chinese factory worker to jail as the sole culprit of the poisoned vittles. Then the head of the manufacturer of many of Mattel’s products in China, Zhang Shuhong, committed suicide for still unknown reasons linked to the tainted paint scandal.

With much of the enormous US debt due to the Iraq war owned by China and the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing, there has been a small PR war arising out of the product scandals. Despite this, developed countries worldwide are moving from Mexico and the Middle East production of the 1990s to China despite all the criticisms and abuses that are now highlighted post Dora the Explorer.

Ironically, the trend in China is likely contributing to a rise in migration worldwide. While in Mexico since 1994, tourism and Maquilladora manufacturing contributed greatly to the rise in the standard of living and stable growth in the Mexican economy, many argue in the world of Dora and the Chinese economic boom, the main revenue to Mexico now is those sourced from those funds coming from the US from legal and illegal Mexican migrants sending funds back to their relatives in Mexico. It could be that the numbers of migrants are increasing with labour jobs moving to China and persons to the US from Mexico, but also that one of the highest grossing products is also teaching American children Spanish in order to communicate and appreciate those coming to the US like Dora herself. While many of these trends have not yet been clearly defined in academic research, the Dora effect will likely become more prevalent with more debt and scandals surrounding international trade, cultural migration and Dora the Explorer herself.

This week’s news roundup features stories on a new wave of highly-skilled migrants in newly developed countries, an update on the US’ current most prominent immigrant activist and a look at how remittances are impacting the global economy:

• The New York Times features an article on the mobility of skilled and highly-qualified migrants, who now constitute 69% of global workers on the move. Increasingly, Westerners are moving to former developing countries as new career possibilities emerge in sectors that have long since become established and in some cases less lucrative in their own societies.
• Illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano, who has become a symbol of the immigrant rights movement has been deported to Mexico, after weeks spent in refuge in a Chicago church. There she protested her deportation and separation from her US-born son. Arellano’s story is just one of the many similar fates we have chronicled in the pages of this blog. A can watch a local CBS report on her situation by clicking on this link.
• Again, tragic news from the Canary Islands. Der SPIEGEL reports that another 10 would-be migrants have died off the coast of Spain. Authorities brought 15 refugees to safety, who reported that they had to throw ten bodies - among them two children - overboard, when their fellow passengers died as a consequence of starvation, dehydration and overall exhaustion.
• The Economist covers the plight of many Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. Over 3m Zimbabweans are thought to have left their homeland (out of a population of 13m), most of them for South Africa. Many are fleeing for purely economic reasons, as Zimbabwe struggles with an 80% unemployment rate - others are political refugees, their bodies covered with signs of torture. South Africa, so the journal reports, is struggling to accomodate the thousands of migrants, which have made it across the border over the past months and problems are set to rise, as a key river bed, which used to deter migrants from risking the trip has now run dry, facilitating illegal border crossings. <>
• <>Remittances have been back in the news recently. Over on the FPA’s Mexico blog, our fellow blogger Rohini Gupta reports that Mexican migrants seem to be sending home less money than in previous years. We featured a similar story a few weeks back. The International Herald Tribune took a closer look at the global impact of remittances, which “are larger than direct foreign investment in Mexico, tea exports in Sri Lanka, tourism revenue in Morocco, and revenue from the Suez Canal in Egypt,” according to World Bank economist Dilip Ratha.
• While most of Europe faces a dramatic demographic downturn, which will put a squeeze on established pension systems, Ireland is looking at a population boom, partially due to the country’s economic growth, partially due to a larger number of migrants over the past few years. Thus, the country has been increasing its integration efforts, as the International Herald Tribune reports.

In this week’s New Roundup we highlight skilled workers and their challenges working in the United States as well as the surprising death threats against community leaders of minority heritage in a small city in Canada and further findings of Migrants in Southern Europe. We also look at fighting racism in the Czech Republic and Russia and problems on the Mexico border.

• Border Crossings - Rising Breed of Migrant Worker: Skilled, Salaried and Welcome: The New York Times discusses why while many countries are seeking to restrict immigration by low-skilled migrants, they are increasingly working to attract those with advanced degrees and scarce skills. See the story here. 
• In a small East Coast Canadian city of Saint John, a city councillor who says he’s been a victim of race-related incidents is not surprised to see more incidents in the city, after another councillor with Korean ancestry received death threats. The suprising threats against the tiny city’s minorities has shocked a country while prides itself on multiculturalism. See the story here.
• Italian coastguards rescued more than 400 migrants off the southern island of Lampedusa on Thursday, including a group of 300 men, women and children crammed into a wooden boat, officials said. See the story here. As well,  a similar incident in Spain A new wave of illegal migrants has set a course for Spain’s southeastern coast in an attempt to reach European shores. See the story here.
• The Prague Jewish Community took issue about the Czech football team Sparta’s fans racism  and sent an open letter to representatives of the Czech first soccer league team Sparta complaining about its fans who yell anti-Semitic slogans during the team’s games. See the story here.
• Student held over internet video of Nazis beheading ‘migrants’ as Russian police detained a university student on Wednesday on suspicion of circulating an Internet video which appeared to show neo-Nazis beheading one non-Slav migrant and shooting another in the head. See the story here and here. 
• At least 3,000 Central American migrants remained stranded along railroad lines in southern Mexico after an American train operator shut down its operations there. See the story here.
• Soccer’s world governing body slapped Jaime Grondona with a nine-month ban on Wednesday in response to the Chilean player’s behaviour at last month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. See the story here.

In this weeks Weekly Roundup we take a look at the US Presidential Campaign and political attacks by Romney against Giuliani’s immigration record, the National Guard situation at the US border as well as Remittances to Mexico and Census changes in the US and problems with the immigration laws in the UK:

• In one of the strongest conflicts yet between Republican presidential front-runners, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked rival Rudy Giuliani Wednesday, implying that Giuliani supported illegal immigration when he was mayor of New York. See the story here.
• NBC Reports There Are “Fewer Than 1,000″ National Guard Troops Along The Border. NBC’s HODA KOTBE: “Well back here on the ground, there are reports of a snag in the President’s border patrol plan. Instead of growing to 6,000 National Guard troops along the border, there are fewer than 1,000, with many states reluctant to send more. See the story here.
• Legal restrictions targeting illegal immigrants have contributed to a sharp fall-off in the remittances sent to Mexico from a number of US states, according to a survey published yesterday. Remittances are one of Mexico’s largest imports of funds into the country. See the story here.
• The government’s proposed changes to immigration rules for skilled migrant workers are unfair and break human rights law, a parliamentary committee said on Thursday. See the story here.
• As of 2006, non-Hispanic whites made up less than half the population in 303 of the nationals 3,141 counties, according to figures the Census Bureau is releasing Thursday. Non-Hispanic whites were a minority in 262 counties in 2000, up from 183 in 1990. See the story here and here.

This week’s news takes a look at the situation in the small country of Moldova where a majority of its workers abroad are illegal, examines the further developments in the shooting of the Brazilian man during the chaos of the London Bombings and the resulting inquiry into his death and focuses on Libya’s human rights record and deaths on the US border. We also take a look at Australia’s further integration issues and a record breaking number of African Migrants reaching the Canary Islands of Spain this past week :

• IMF forecasts that Moldova will be the world leader for the amount of money sent home by migrants in 2008. Most of the Moldovan workers abroad are illegal immigrants. See the story here.
• London police misled public after accidental shooting, panel finds a top official failed to inform the commissioner of the victim’s identity, thus allowing erroneous reports to be perpetuated in the media. The Brazilian national was killed by London police during the anarchy of the London Bombing, but inquiries found that errors by the London police were skewed and subsequently covered up in the aftermath of the situation. See the story here.
• Libya is set to take charge of a UN anti-racism committee in a move condemned by human rights groups who say the north African country’s rights record disqualifies it from the post. Libya takes over on the heels of torture allegations put forward by foreign medics recently released from the country. See the story here.
• The number of illegal immigrants who have died trying to get into the United States is higher than ever this summer. According to USAToday, many migrants have not been able to survive the harsh conditions of the deserts between the US and Mexico and often perish during the journey. Resaons for this are discussed in the article. See the story here.
• In a report by CNN, The body of a Cuban-American, Luis Lazaro Lara Morejon who was under investigation in a migrant smuggling case was found riddled with bullets along a road outside the Caribbean resort of Cancun, authorities said Tuesday. See the story here.
• A new test for Migrants to Australia is to be created according to the Sydney Morning Herald. People who are seeking to immigrate will face stricter scrutiny of their ability to integrate into Australian society, the Minister for Immigration, Kevin Andrews said this past week. See the story here.
• A record-breaking 180 African immigrants reached the Canary Islands in a single ocean-going canoe on Monday as new super-sized vessels began to be used in the perilous journey from Africa’s Atlantic coast. The 180 sub-Saharan Africans were picked up by a Spanish maritime rescue vessel off the island of Tenerife. See the story here. 

When migrants leave their families behind in search of a better economic future, they sometimes send more back than weekly remittance payments. An article in the New York Times highlights the correlation of migration and the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural Mexico, an area ill-equipped to handle a possible epidemic. While Mexico provides antiretroviral drugs even to its poorest, these are generally dispensed in the country’s cities, making it difficult for villagers to receive adequate care.

The rapid spread of the disease is in part linked to the stigma attached to marital infidelity, the article highlights. In addition, many believe that the US is a safer country in every way, thus living in denial of the disease. Men do not tell their wives about encounters they may have had with strangers while in the US, thus infecting wives and in many cases unborn children. Female migrants are often subject to rape and sexual abuse. Given their tenuous legal status, many of these do not seek medical help in the United States. The article quotes George Lemp, an epidemiologist who directs the University of California’s AIDS research program: “Migrants are vulnerable. They are isolated. They are exposed to different sexual practices. They have language barriers to services and there is a lot of depression and loneliness and abuse.”

Researchers in the US are already studying these developments closely, but the Mexican government has also begun to address the problem, albeit slowly. It has dispatched health workers into the more rural areas of the country to educate returning migrants and those seeking to leave on the “risks they might face on the road.”

See FPA’s Mexico Blog for R.Basas and R.Gupta’s complementary posts on Mexico and HIV

With the failure of the Immigration Reform Bill there has been a refocusing on the issues regarding the current state of affairs surrounding illegal immigration. This year there has already been 275 bodies found between US-Mexico border and it is expected that that number is going to rise to a record of over 500 bodies in 2007. Much of the criticism coming from some border experts is that increased border security creates a situation where migrants seek more dangerous and unfriendly means to make it across the border, and since 1994 when border security was tightened nearly 4,500 Mexicans and Central Americans have perished trying to make it to the US.

While there is much debate on why it has become more dangerous to cross the border, it is believed that while in the past many met their fate due to traffic accidents, the main culprit in recent history is hypothermia from cold desert temperatures and many being drenched while crossing the Rio Grande river between Mexico and the US and not being able to warm themselves to save their lives. Another risk mentioned are the cases of some smugglers, commonly called “coyotes” abandoning their migrants or physically assaulting them. While much of the statistics show the evident rise in risks in crossing the border and the links with border security, much of the information details only the situation US side of the border. Despite all these statistics, or lack thereof, much of these issues are common knowledge on both sides of the border.

The question that needs to be asked in my opinion is whether these migrants from Mexico and Central America and the US and its economy and people are two independent issues, or whether in that part of the Americas those two groups are completely interdependent on each other. One can only give their best observation, but I believe there is a solid point to be made in the film A Day Without a Mexican-2004 where California is ground to a halt when on May 14th every Mexican worker disappears from the streets of California and its citizens attempt to manage their lives without the thousands of illegal immigrants who do much of the labour in today’s America.

Despite the humoristic observations of the filmmakers, in reality the situation on the border is one of perpetual crisis. With an economy so dependent on its inexpensive labour and so resistant to accept the workers who do those tasks, it seems the solution to many of these issues are non-existent except to make a movie about something no one can agree on yet everyone knows they could not live without.

The failure of Immigration reform in the US marked a special occasion in recent US political history where both parties have come to complete consensus over an issue, and have decided that NO ONE can agree on anything when it comes to reforming the unworkable immigration laws in the United States. The plan was finally put to rest when members of both the Democrats and Republicans could not come to any consensus in reforming the key issues tied in with immigration last week. The main points of disagreement among US politicians were debates over border security, what to do with the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the US, and allowing a new process for foreign workers to be able to work legally in the US. Addressing these three main issue were considered by many as asking too much too soon in altering current US immigration policy.

The effect on the Bush Administration disallows any attempt to improve domestic support and his overall reputation before he leaves office. Many political experts see immigration as a dead issue until 2009, when a new President can adopt the issue to gain their own support and leave the Bush legacy with only Iraq and scandals as its main points of historical debate. It remains to be seen how future candidates will address immigration, if at all in the upcoming US elections.

The real losers however are immigrants and Americans themselves. In the June 30th article by the New York Times: Immigrants Work On as Bill Dies and Views Divide, news of the failed reforms met some concerned groups with quiet mediocrity while others were happy to know that they may still have a good chance to make it to America without increased border security hindering their chances. Workers currently in the US, like Ediberto Perez reacted by saying: “Well, I am just going to keep working, What more can I do?” Also spoken about in the New York Times article was Mr. Brito, who thought him and his companions would never gain legal status. He has his wife and four children living in Mexico and while said he would love to become legal, it would not stop him from working at any job he can find.

Criticisms of the continuation of the labour situation in the US have met criticism from across the border in Mexico. Mexican President Felipe Calderon called the Senate’s decision a “grave error” and a failure to find a “sensible, rational, legal solution to the migration problem.” Jorge Bustamente of the UN human rights commission for migrants criticized the lack of reform measures by stating, “It means the continuation and probably a worsening of the migrants’ vulnerable conditions.” Mexican newspaper El Universal also commented on the failure of the immigration reform by stating that while American politicians want labour, they are unwilling to legalise the labour they require.

While delaying approaching the immigration issue until 2009 may not solve any current problems, it is evident that there is still a severe lack of consensus in dealing with immigration in the United States. While agreeing to disagree is the result of this latest round of immigration issues across America and beyond its borders into Mexico and abroad, everyone concerned must deal with its political paralysis for the time being.

The New York Times is reporting a wonderful story about a satirical column by Gustavo Arellano, which runs in the alternative Orange County, CA. newspaper. The friendly advice column Ask a Mexican! has dedicated itself to openly addressing stereotypes that often plague the relationship between the large Mexican immigrant population and the rest of the population. His column, which now appears in two dozen alternative weeklies and has just been turned into a book, has become a ‘hot topic’ accross the nation. Many feel that his satirical commentary reinforces stereotyping, while others are thankful for the humorous look at the problems that arise with increased immigration. While some in the Mexican community consider him to be a pariah, Arellano vows to soldier on, clarifying that Mexicans don’t call white people gringos - “only gringos call gringos gringos.”

Check out his weekly column here.