Is Employment the main motivation for Mexican Immigrants to enter the United States? (Research Paper Sample)

Is Employment the main motivation for Mexican Immigrants to enter the United States?
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1.0 Introduction
The USA is a country built on immigrants. The Europeans landed in America to open the stage for nationals of other countries to move in. The economy, society and politics of the independent America were all activities of the earlier immigrants (Pollina, 2009). America ripped big from the great industrial revolution. The country specialized in the motor and energy industry. Some of the manufacturers such as Ford are still in play to date. The manufacturing and production industry elevated the economic status of the USA to a state above most countries. Sooner than expected, The USA became the land of greener pastures that everyone was looking forward to. Coupled with political freedom and democracy, the USA became a major attractant for many people from different nationalities. Mexicans too were not left behind in the mass immigration into the land of opportunities. This research paper seeks to establish whether employment is the main factor behind the immigration of Mexicans to the USA.
1.1 History of Mexican Immigration
Initially, there was a handful of Mexicans crossing back and forth into the USA. This was during the 19th Century. The mass immigration of Mexicans into the USA began in the early 20th Century (Massey and Audrey, 1995). The main reasons behind the immigration were large- scale labor demands in the USA and Political strife in Mexico. The first wave of Mexican immigration happened around the Second World War. Their numbers rose from a paltry 105, 000 to 600,000. During the first wave, the principle motivation was the demand for agricultural casuals by private labor contractors. The second batch that arrived during the Bracero program comprised of guest agriculture workers. In 1965, when the Bracero program ended, the US government came up with immigration laws that restricted the number of Latin America immigrants. The third batch mainly comprised of male seasonal laborers who travelled back and forth across the border. When the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was enacted, the USA government allowed the fourth batch of 3 million Mexicans in return for tougher border control measures (Migrationpolicy.org, 2015).
According to Migrationpolicy.org (2015), Mexicans make up the largest group of immigrants in the USA since 1980. Ever since the USA adopted stringent immigration laws, the number of nationalities seeking citizenship has gone down. The measures have also affected the immigration of foreigners from China, India, Africa and the Middle East. Currently, there are about 11.4 million legal Mexican immigrants up from 3 million in 1980. The Chinese immigrants come second with a figure of 2 million. Legal Mexican immigrants account for the largest percentage of foreign births- children borne of non- American parents (Porter, 2005). Out of 40 million births in 2014, 28% were products of Mexican parents. Just like Mexicans, most immigrants come to the USA because of its employment opportunities, political freedom, better social amenities, and some come to seek asylum.
1.3 Controversies and Public perception regarding the immigration
According to Newport (2015), immigration featured among the top 10 problems that American citizens face. In a survey done in early 2014, most of those interviewed cited increase in unemployment as the major undoing of Mexican and other immigrants. Average Americans have come out in numbers to claim that Mexican immigrants have stolen their jobs. Apparently, most employers find Mexican immigrants to be more reliable than their American counterparts. The upsurge in the numbers of illegal Mexican immigrants has been another subject for debate. Many unscrupulous employers opt to employ the illegals because they get to pay them below the minimum wage. The aftermath is lack of employment for the unskilled labor of the USA (Trichinor, 2009). Recently, when Donald Trump suggested the deportation of Mexican immigrants with docking babies, a surprisingly large percentage of the public supported the idea.
1.4 The future of Mexican immigrants
Recently, unconfirmed claims that more Mexican immigrants were leaving the USA than they were moving in, surfaced the media. However, according to migration flow estimates by Chiquair and Salcedo (2013), immigration is likely to increase. The duo cite the lack of a strong manufacturing industry as the main reason for their projections. Their second hypothesis says that skilled labor from Mexico will become an integral driver of migration flow. The prediction reveals that in the future, a high percentage of Mexican immigrants will comprise of skilled labor. Currently, most of the Mexican immigrants are overrepresented in the semi -skilled and non- skilled labor statistics. Finally, the statisticians project a rise in numbers of Mexican immigrants in other sectors of the economy that they have not infiltrated (Organista, 2007). Currently, Mexican immigrants are primarily dominant in the agricultural and construction industry. Other sectors that they are likely to venture into include healthcare, education and commerce.
2.0 Literature Review
The issue of Mexican immigration has been a subject of debate for a long time now. As mentioned earlier in the introduction, a sizeable percentage of Americans blames them for the rise in unemployment rates. Due to its enormous relevance to the American economy, many scholars have focused their research on the reasons leading to the high immigration rates of Mexicans to the USA. The Mexican immigration has generated interest from numerous scholars from different sections of academia. They include economics, sociology, history, art and culture, genetics, and politics. This particular literature review will focus on the material which talks about employment opportunities and the immigration of Mexicans into the USA. For the purposes of this research paper, prime focus will be on the employment opportunities and other factors that attract Mexican immigrants into the USA.
2.1 Orrenius et al. (2008)
In a research paper by Orrenius et al. (2008), Mexicans are leaving their country because of various reasons. Crime comes on top of the list. The study done in Mexico revealed that 4 in 10 Mexicans were willing to immigrate to the USA whether legally or illegally. When asked to give the reasons that would make them move to the USA, 57% claimed that they would move to USA in search of better lives. The study’s main aim was to investigate problems that the Mexican masses faced and establish whether they were deep enough to drive them to seek nationality elsewhere. The research team classified the problems into the following four categories Crime, corrupt leaders, illegal drugs and economic hardships. During this particular study, the correspondents were asked to rank the problems according to their magnitude. The results were represented in a table as shown below.
Fig 2.1: the ranking of problems faced by Mexicans in relation to their magnitude. Image adapted from orrienus et al. (2008).
As Orrienus et al. (2008) further interpret the figures to show that Many Mexicans do not feel safe in their country. 81% of the participants ranked insecurity as the biggest problem in their country. Economic problems and illegal drugs come in second and third respectively. Some of the participants blamed their corrupt political leaders for the current problems faced by Mexico. They claim that political leaders have been compromised by drug lords and drug cartels. It is for these reasons that 57% of the Mexicans that took part in the study believe that their relatives who moved to the USA live a better life. In retrospect, the study also reveals a contradicting aspect of the Mexican immigrants. 47% of the interviewees agreed that they knew someone who had left for the USA and later returned to Mexico because they could not secure a job.
2.2 Cid (2011).
In her quantitative research paper, Cid (2011), interviews Latinos (Mexicans included) legally living in the USA. Among the things that she enquires are the reasons for immigration, experiences in the USA and what they think of the American dream. The study conducted around Houston revealed that 67% of immigrants were motivated by employment opportunities in the USA. They claim that they heard of the employment prospects from their relatives who had migrated into the USA. The notion that USA is a land of opportunities is a widely held concept in Latin American countries. It is therefore not a surprise when citizens of these countries try tooth and nail to move into the USA.
When asked about their experiences in the USA, most of them cite racism and police harassment as the major problems (Cedi, 2011). Latin Americans are blamed for problems that have escalated in the USA in the recent past. They include insecurity, healthcare problems and illegal drug use. The prevailing stereotype that Latin Americans are poor illegal immigrants has also added to the social problems of Latino immigrants in the USA. When asked about their thoughts on the realization of the American dream, most of them claim that they did not expect life to be so hard. Upon arrival, they realized how hard it was to secure employment. The high cost of living has also made life harder for them. In conclusion, Cedi (2011) writes that Latin American immigrants mainly come to the USA with the prospects of job opportunities and better living conditions.
3.0 Research methods
This paper will employ qualitative research methods to find out whether employment is the primary motivating factor for the immigration of Mexicans into the USA. Because of the limited timeframe and budget constraints, the paper could not entail quantitative research involving interviewing leg...