USA Today: Mexicans Feel Strong Pull To USA
By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
More than 40% of Mexican adults say they would move to the USA if they could, and one in five say they would do so illegally if necessary, according to surveys released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Surveys of 1,200 Mexican adults in February and 1,200 in May, conducted in their homes, show that Mexicans' rising education levels have not weakened the desire to live and work in this country.
More than a third of Mexican college graduates say they would come to the USA if they could, and more than one in eight would do so even if they had to enter the country illegally, according to the surveys, the first of their kind.
"Contrary to what people might expect, the inclination to migrate isn't contained among Mexicans who are poor or poorly educated or with limited economic prospects," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group in Washington. "They're distributed across the whole breadth of Mexican society."
Mexicans' willingness to come is driven by a desire to improve their economic status and join friends and family already in the USA, Suro says.
Despite improvements in the Mexican economy, "people with college degrees believe they have greater economic opportunities by migration to the U.S. — even illegally — than they would staying at home," Suro says. Mexicans are coming from richer, urban areas as well as poor, rural regions, he says.
The survey comes at a time when President Bush and Democratic and Republican leaders are calling for changes in U.S. immigration policy. The biggest issue: what to do about the estimated 11 million or more people here illegally.
"The president supports comprehensive immigration reform that addresses border security, enforcement and the economic demand for willing workers," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy says.
Some members of Congress, such as Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., say immigrants here illegally should go back to their native countries to apply to enter the USA legally. Others, such as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., say that isn't practical.
"People are simply not going to sign up ... to be deported with no guarantee of coming back again," says Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group for Hispanics.
More than half of Mexicans say they would be inclined to come if the United States established a temporary worker program.
Pew's June survey of Latinos in the USA found that 68% say illegal immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost labor rather than drive wages down.
But the survey shows a difference between the attitudes of Hispanics born here and those of Latino immigrants. For example, 60% of U.S.-born Hispanics support laws that require people to show proof of citizenship or legal residency before they can get driver's licenses. Only 29% of foreign-born Latinos feel that way.
More immigrants come here from Mexico (population 106 million) than any other country. An estimated 10 million Mexicans now live here, more than half illegally, Suro says.
"Millions of people are going to keep coming every decade unless we restrict it," says Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group that favors strict enforcement of immigration laws. "That's the bottom line."
More than 40% of Mexican adults say they would move to the USA if they could, and one in five say they would do so illegally if necessary, according to surveys released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Surveys of 1,200 Mexican adults in February and 1,200 in May, conducted in their homes, show that Mexicans' rising education levels have not weakened the desire to live and work in this country.
More than a third of Mexican college graduates say they would come to the USA if they could, and more than one in eight would do so even if they had to enter the country illegally, according to the surveys, the first of their kind.
"Contrary to what people might expect, the inclination to migrate isn't contained among Mexicans who are poor or poorly educated or with limited economic prospects," says Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research group in Washington. "They're distributed across the whole breadth of Mexican society."
Mexicans' willingness to come is driven by a desire to improve their economic status and join friends and family already in the USA, Suro says.
Despite improvements in the Mexican economy, "people with college degrees believe they have greater economic opportunities by migration to the U.S. — even illegally — than they would staying at home," Suro says. Mexicans are coming from richer, urban areas as well as poor, rural regions, he says.
The survey comes at a time when President Bush and Democratic and Republican leaders are calling for changes in U.S. immigration policy. The biggest issue: what to do about the estimated 11 million or more people here illegally.
"The president supports comprehensive immigration reform that addresses border security, enforcement and the economic demand for willing workers," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy says.
Some members of Congress, such as Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., say immigrants here illegally should go back to their native countries to apply to enter the USA legally. Others, such as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., say that isn't practical.
"People are simply not going to sign up ... to be deported with no guarantee of coming back again," says Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy group for Hispanics.
More than half of Mexicans say they would be inclined to come if the United States established a temporary worker program.
Pew's June survey of Latinos in the USA found that 68% say illegal immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost labor rather than drive wages down.
But the survey shows a difference between the attitudes of Hispanics born here and those of Latino immigrants. For example, 60% of U.S.-born Hispanics support laws that require people to show proof of citizenship or legal residency before they can get driver's licenses. Only 29% of foreign-born Latinos feel that way.
More immigrants come here from Mexico (population 106 million) than any other country. An estimated 10 million Mexicans now live here, more than half illegally, Suro says.
"Millions of people are going to keep coming every decade unless we restrict it," says Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group that favors strict enforcement of immigration laws. "That's the bottom line."
posted by Tejano Insider at 9:12 AM
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