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April 27, 2006 Vol 28 No.29

U.S. economic occupation turns immigrants into refugees
ZOË WILLIAMS
williamz@mscd.edu

Photo by Matthew Jonas • jonasm@mscd.edu

More than 2500 people gathered and chanted “Sí, Se Puede,” while holding United States and Mexican flags April 19 at the state capitol to protest proposed legislation on immigration. Many of the protesters walked out of classes at nearby high schools to attend the rally.

   In the midst of the current civil rights uprising of immigrants, I realized something. Whenever I spoke of Mexican folks fleeing their country’s bleak economic situation without permission from the U.S. government, I always called the people “undocumented immigrants.” Sure, the term is politically correct enough, but it misses a really big point. "

   After all, the people of Mexico aren’t coming to the United States because they like the view; it is a matter of crippling poverty or a chance at opportunity. Immigrants from Mexico are much more than workers with or without a green card; they are refugees.

   Allow me to explain. The North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Canada, the USA and Mexico loosened policies on imports and provided benefits to companies from the United States moving their factories to Mexico. It guaranteed that corporations would not be obligated to follow governmental protections of human rights. That’s right, no human rights for Mexican workers, just profit for companies from the United States.

   Suddenly Mexico’s economy depended largely on the United States. Following NAFTA, the Mexican economy slumped so low it was almost underground. In 1996, 46 percent of Mexico’s exports came from the maquiladoras, or foreign owned sweatshops.

   Maquiladora situations are no joke. Mexican laborers make Gap jeans for some 28 cents an hour—one third of the living wage for a family in Mexico. Bosses are permitted to require female workers to prove that they are menstruating once a month to keep their job. Workers in the Nike and Reebok maquiladoras making merchandise for universities filed reports that they were regularly being physically abused by their managers.

   Additionally, Mexican farmers growing rice, sugar and soy are closing their lands due to an inability to compete with the massive U.S. farm industry.

   One of the hardest hit crops has been Mexican coffee. Mexico’s coffee production has fallen 40 percent and incomes have dropped 70 percent. In the United States, the retail value of coffee rose over 30 percent. This is because companies like Sara Lee, Starbucks and Nestle are the competition to family-owned coffee farms that saw their crop to be an art. Now, these farmers are trying to make it to the US, though many die. In May 2001, 12 of the 14 refugees who died crossing the deserts of Arizona were coffee farmers.

   Our government is imposing this economic tyranny. Our fellow human beings across the border are the victims. This is an economic occupation, and as with all occupations, human beings take the lowest priority.

   The Princeton University definition of occupation is the rule of a country by foreign power. The United States controls the Mexican economy with its corporate death grip on the job market. NAFTA has allowed our economic immorality to overrule any protections of the Mexican people. Our military has provided a surplus of weapons to Mexico to ensure that the operations of the treaty are protected. Our government and businesses have vowed to squelch any uprisings of the Mexican people, such as the Zapatistas.

   According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, an occupying power is obligated to care for the people who reside in the territories they control. Therefore, the United States government is responsible for every starving, poverty-stricken family begging for a life at our borders.

   Current legislation proposed by Democrats and Republicans alike suggests that Mexican economic refugees who have not received the grace of Lady Liberty’s green card should be deported in swaths totaling up to an estimated 8 million people. That means back to Mexico, back to poverty and back to occupation. The U.S. government is attempting to swindle international law to militarize our borders, be the grand puppeteer of foreign nations and defend profit at every expense.

   When our government refuses to cooperate with international standards of human decency, we must hold it accountable. When I say “we,” I mean that you, your friends and I need to start enforcing some international law.

   May 1 is International Worker’s Day. On this day, immigrants and those who side with the oppressed over the oppressor are declaring a general strike. A general strike means a halt of everything that either brings you to work or makes someone else work. That means no going to school, no going to work, no eating out, no shopping, no riding buses and no filling up on gas.

   General strikes become successful when everyone who isn’t in power demands a voice. That means every single person in this nation recognizes the racism of the current immigration debate and demands human rights for immigrants.

   After all, when human rights are at stake, there is no work more important than the work to be done in the streets.

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