Seeing Mexican Immigration Clearly
by Douglas S. Massey
August 20th, 2006
Richard Rodriguez is an essayist in the humanist tradition and thus comments on the cultural meaning of Mexican immigration and the symbolic importance of Mexicans in American society. As a student of culture myself, I concur with his emphasis on cultural meanings and symbols in the current debate. Indeed, as I pointed out in a recent article, “the Mexico-U.S. border is much more than a boundary between two nations. Over the years it has become a symbolic stage upon which the nation’s insecurities and fears, hopes and dreams, are projected for public consumption” and that as a result, “American border policy has less to do with the underlying realities of Mexican immigration than with the nation’s view of itself and its place in the world.” (Chronicle of Higher Education Review, June 30, B11).
Despite my appreciation for the cultural ramifications of Mexican immigration, I am a social scientist and ultimately believe that accurate understanding needs to be grounded in empirical reality. In 25 years of research on a variety of public policy issues, I have never seen so much misinformation as in the debate on Mexican immigration during 2006. Thanks to the media and political entrepreneurs, Mexican immigrants are routinely portrayed as a tidal wave of human beings fleeing an impoverished, disorganized nation who are desperate to settle in the United States, where they will overwhelm our culture, displace our language, mooch our social services, and undermine our national security.
This profile, however, bears no discernible relationship to the reality that I know as a social scientist. Since 1982 I have co-directed a large data-gathering effort known as the Mexican Migration Project. My collaborators and I have conducted representative surveys in communities all over Mexico and the United States, and over the years, we have surveyed 20,000 households and 120,000 individuals to gather detailed information from U.S. migrants about their experiences crossing the border, living in the United States, and returning to Mexico. My understanding of Mexican immigration rests on these data, and if anyone thinks I’ve got it all wrong, they are free to download the data, analyze it, and see for themselves.
Mexican immigration is not a tidal wave. The rate of undocumented migration has not increased in over two decades. Neither is Mexico a demographic time bomb; its fertility rate is only slightly above replacement. Although a variety of trans-border population movements have increased, this is to be expected in a North American economy that is increasingly integrated under the terms of a mutually-ratified trade agreement. Undocumented migration stems from the unwillingness of the United States to include labor within the broader framework governing trade and investment. Rates of migration between Mexico and the United States are entirely normal for two countries so closely integrated economically.
Mexico is not impoverished or disorganized. It is a dynamic, one trillion dollar economy and, along with Canada, our largest trading partner. Its per capita income is $10,000, which puts it at the upper tier of middle income countries, not far behind Russia’s per capita income of $11,000. Compared with Russia, however, Mexico has a much better developed infrastructure of highways, ports, railroads, telecommunications, and social services that give it a poverty rate of 18% rather than 40%, as well as a male life expectancy of 73 years rather than 61 years (U.S. figures are 12% and 75 years, respectively). Unlike Russia, moreover, Mexico is a functioning democracy with open and competitive elections, a separation of powers, and a well-defined party system.
In keeping with these realities, Mexicans are not desperate to settle north of the border. Most migrants are not fleeing poverty so much as seeking social mobility. They typically have a job and income in Mexico and are seeking to finance some economic goal at home—acquiring a home, purchasing land, capitalizing a business, investing in education, smoothing consumption. Left to themselves, the vast majority of migrants will return once they have met their economic goals. From 1965 to 1985, 85% of undocumented entries from Mexico were offset by departures and the net increase in the undocumented population was small. The build-up of enforcement resources at the border has not decreased the entry of migrants so much as discouraged their return home. Since the late 1980s the rate of undocumented out-migration has been halved. Undocumented population growth in the United States stems not from rising in-migration, but from falling out-migration.
To Americans who fear cultural displacement, I say look at what’s happening south of the border. Cultural influences travel in both directions and in an integrated economy they are inevitable. Given the global hegemony of the United States, however, the cultural effects are asymmetric. We influence Mexican culture and society far more than they affect U.S. culture and society. Within Mexico, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Toys ‘R Us, and 7-11 are increasingly displacing Mexican outlets. Even Taco Bell is making inroads, and American cultural traditions such as Halloween and Santa Claus now compete with Mexican celebrations such as Day of the Dead and Three Kings Day.
Linguistically, English-speakers certainly have nothing to fear. English is increasingly spoken in Mexico and is viewed as essential for social and economic advancement. Even the smallest towns and cities in Mexico have bustling English language academies, and English has become a core part of the Spanish spoken by most Mexicans. Within the United States, in contrast, few Anglo-Americans speak Spanish and although it may be widely spoken among new immigrants, there is a rapid shift to English over time. Few of children of immigrants use Spanish rather than English and virtually none of their grandchildren can speak it at all.
Mexican immigrants do not migrate to take advantage of U.S. social services. Their service usage rates are well below those of other immigrant groups and have fallen sharply since the mid-1990s. Undocumented migrants, in particular, are more likely to pay taxes than to use public services, and even those they do use—mainly education and medical care—are consumed at rates well below what one would expect given their socioeconomic characteristics. The problem of paying for services to immigrants is serious, but one that is easily solved through federal transfers. Whereas tax revenues accrue disproportionately to the federal government, the costs of immigration are borne locally.
Mexico is not a threat to U.S. national security. It is an ally and friendly trading nation that annually spends less than 0.8% of GDP on its military. There are a million U.S. citizens living in Mexico and ten million Mexicans living in the United States, all of whom have multiple ties of kinship, friendship, and commerce that cross the border. Tourism is extensive and large shares of citizens in both countries have spent time on the other side of the border. Mexico has no resident Islamic community, no known terrorist cells, and has never been a launching pad for terrorist attacks on the United States. Those attributes describe our neighbor to the north, not our neighbor to the south.
The demagogic portrayal of Mexico as a threat to American culture, society, and security has not solved the problems associated with Mexico-U.S. migration; it has only made them worse. Rather than seeking to build a wall between our two countries, we should adopt the stance taken by the European Union when it integrated poor neighbors such as Spain and Portugal in the 1980s and Poland and Hungary today. Rather than seeking to block flows of people that naturally follow from trade and investment within a common market, we should work to make sure these movements occur under circumstances that are beneficial to all concerned, promoting growth in Mexico, minimizing costs to the United States, and protecting the rights of immigrant and native workers.
August 22nd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
Yanquico
Immigration skeptics like Victor Davis Hanson, author of Mexifornia, warn that Mexican culture is supplanting our own. My knee-jerk reaction…
August 23rd, 2006 at 12:49 am
Seeing Mexican Immigration Clearly by Douglas S. Massey
On Sunday Douglas S. Massey responded to Richard Rodriguez’s Monday article Mexicans in America. Here is a teaser of what his response contained:
To Americans who fear cultural displacement, I say look at what’s happening south of the border. Cul…
August 23rd, 2006 at 4:53 am
A Clear-Eyed View of Mexican Immigration
Princeton University’s Douglas S. Massey is a seasoned observer of migration trends, particularly relating to Mexicans. He’s written a clear-eyed analysis of not only Mexican immigration, but places it in the broader context of the U.S.-Mexico relati…
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:48 am
A Response to the Anti-Immigrant Crowd
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August 23rd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
[…] Douglas Massey: Mexican immigration is not a tidal wave. The rate of undocumented migration has not increased in over two decades. Neither is Mexico a demographic time bomb; its fertility rate is only slightly above replacement. Although a variety of trans-border population movements have increased, this is to be expected in a North American economy that is increasingly integrated under the terms of a mutually-ratified trade agreement. Undocumented migration stems from the unwillingness of the United States to include labor within the broader framework governing trade and investment. Rates of migration between Mexico and the United States are entirely normal for two countries so closely integrated economically. […]
August 28th, 2006 at 10:33 am
Monday News Stories
I’ve been busy with moving back to college, but today I have the time to post my regular list of new stories. I devoted a lot of time to the new scorecard; expect new projects to take off soon. Below are some new stories, old and new, related to top…
February 11th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
[…] Where was I? Oh yeah, immigration. If you’re interested in some empirical information about immigration instead of all the self-serving political rhetoric that the media loves to pass on, there’s an excellent (short) essay on CATO|Unbound, titled Seeing Mexican Immigration Clearly. (via NITPICKER) […]
February 15th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
[…] As this thread is discussing the wisdom of author who would only identify himself as "anonymous" and was first posted on the website of Glenn Spencer, a white supremicist vigilante, I suspect that any response is pretty pointless. Nevertheless, here are the comments of someone with a name. Douglas S. Massey is the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he is co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at the Office of Population Research. Massey’s research focuses on international migration, race and housing, discrimination, education, urban poverty, and Latin America, especially Mexico. He is the author, most recently, of Crossing the Border: Research from the Mexican Migration Project (with Jorge Durand), and International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market (co-edited with J. Edward Taylor). I wonder what credentials "anonymous" has? Seeing Mexican Immigration Clearly Quote: […]
June 7th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
[…] The good thing about the guest worker provision in the otherwise awful immigration bill is that it provides a stepping-stone to an EU-like American common labor market. Here is Princeton’s Douglas Massey in the August 2006 Cato Unbound on Mexican immigration: Rather than seeking to build a wall between our two countries, we should adopt the stance taken by the European Union when it integrated poor neighbors such as Spain and Portugal in the 1980s and Poland and Hungary today. Rather than seeking to block flows of people that naturally follow from trade and investment within a common market, we should work to make sure these movements occur under circumstances that are beneficial to all concerned, promoting growth in Mexico, minimizing costs to the United States, and protecting the rights of immigrant and native workers. […]
June 18th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
[…] Where did I get this information? It may surprise some to know that this comes from the CATO Institute; possibly the most conservative think tank in the world. The facts stated above are simply a few taken from some of the most thorough, scientific research done over the past 40 years. […]
July 10th, 2007 at 12:49 am
[…] Mexican Immigration clearly Published by Benjy July 9th, 2007 Seeing Mexican Immigration clearly - A nice article on Mexican immigration; a lot of great underreported facts, and I especially likethat he refers to it as “undocumented migration” throughout the article. […]