Sidebar by Nancy Hiemstra
Immigration – September 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
Current immigration trends from Mexico to the United States can be most directly tied to changes in the global economy in the last 40 years. In the 1960s and ’70s, Mexico and other Latin American countries were encouraged by the Western world to borrow heavily in order to develop national industry and infrastructure. It was easy to get loans because the profiting OPEC countries deposited a lot of their profits in U.S. banks as the world’s oil dependence grew; and these banks, in turn, gave huge loans to developing countries at variable interest rates, which were initially very low.
When the international economy went into crisis with the oil shocks of the late 1970s, however, rates rose quickly, and by the early ’80s some Latin American countries were using the bulk of their national income just to service foreign debts. In 1982, Mexico was the first Latin American country to declare that it couldn’t keep up with interest payments and other countries soon followed, making the world’s markets suddenly unstable. Organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund put together “debt relief” packages — debt-burdened countries got “aid” in exchange for re-focusing their economies on international trade, allowing foreign investment, and cutting government “extras” in social services, public education and infrastructure.
A cornerstone of Mexico’s new economic approach was developing trade with the U.S. This led to an increase in maquiladoras, U.S.-owned manufacturing plants usually just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, which take advantage of cheaper labor costs and fewer regulations in Mexico. In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) further loosened trade restrictions, and made it even easier for U.S. companies to produce goods in Mexico. NAFTA also broke down Mexico’s protective walls against U.S. competition, which had a devastating effect on small Mexican businesses and farmers. For example, subsidized U.S. grain flooded Mexican markets, and millions of local farmers could no longer make a profit on their harvests. NAFTA also led to the weakening of Mexican labor organizations, resulting in a general decline in wages. Today, many of the U.S. companies are moving their assembly plants to countries such as China where regulations and labor costs are less than in Mexico, further contributing to unemployment. As many Latin American families’ ability to survive financially has diminished over recent decades, migrating to the U.S. is a choice more are making.
During various periods in U.S. history, Mexican workers have been welcomed in the “north” (and remember that a large chunk of the Southwest was Mexico until 1848). These migrants typically went to big cities or agricultural regions, many stayed for a harvest season or a few years, and often only male family members came.
In the last few decades, however, new Latino immigration has become more nation-wide, permanent, and family-based. While these trends are partly due to the worsening economic conditions in countries such as Mexico, several other factors are important. First, the number of low-wage jobs have multiplied as the U.S. economy becomes more service-oriented and focused on mass production. To fill jobs in, for example, housekeeping, food processing, manual labor, and restaurant work, employers throughout the U.S. turn more and more to Latino immigrant workers. Second, increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and security concerns in the United States have led to tougher immigration and border regulations, which, ironically, contribute to the growing permanence of many immigrants. Fearing the bigger expense and danger of crossing without documentation, many decide to remain in the U.S. Finally, when immigrants who migrated alone decide to stay, they often make efforts to reunite their families in their new home.
All of these factors impact current immigration to Lake County. Most Latino immigrants come from small farming communities in Mexico (a small number from Guatemala and Honduras), or used to work in maquiladoras. While some lived in other U.S. locations before coming to the region, today the county is often their first destination after crossing the U.S. border. Networks of families and friends have developed that spread the word about the many jobs available in Colorado’s mountain resort towns, and the relatively affordable town of Leadville nearby.
