Mexico is Key to U.S. Immigration Woes

By Jeffrey Young
Washington, D.C.

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Manuel Orozco, with a Washington-based research group called the Inter- American Dialogue, says that for decades Mexican migration has been a "safety valve," easing some of the pressure on the Mexican government to institute reforms as well as a way for people to escape substandard living conditions.

"The government cannot afford to take care of these people in terms of delivery of social and public goods. It is relieving the country of its inability to perform better economically, because the local economy cannot compete in the global economy, cannot generate enough wealth to keep people employed," says Orozco.

According to U.S. government figures, Mexico's population now stands at more than 107 million. Its gross domestic product is a little more than one trillion U.S. dollars, which amounts to about $10,000 per person. While Mexico's economy is considered strong compared to other Latin American countries, per-capita income is only a fourth of that of the United States. Forty percent of Mexico's population lives below the poverty line. So many Mexicans go to the United States to work and send money back home to their families.