International Political Economy
On September 10, 2001, Presidents George W. Bush and Vincente Fox were involved in an international negotiation aimed at reaching a fairer, more beneficial immigration policy for their two neighboring nations. The need for a guest worker program in the United States to accommodate workers looking for positions from Mexico, where the job market had become sparse, was being discussed as well as economic options to encourage job growth in Mexico itself, such as the expansion of international companies to include Mexican plants and locations (Business Week 2001). The negotiations, in fact, were focused significantly on treating immigration as an economic issue and not a political one; although observers stills saw the influence of politics on the discussions, for all major intents, economic growth and stability were the aim of both administrations. The Bush-Fox immigration deal never progressed farther than those talks, however, because U.S. foreign policy would be significantly changed by the events of September 11, 2001. For the immediate period after 9/11, U.S. policies were focused on the capture of terrorists and the prevention of another attack on American soil. Such emphasis on foreign terrorists resulted in a relative a
Security issues have influenced the migratory patters on the southern border of the U.S., with increased numbers of border patrol and even citizen-watch groups patrolling the border for illegal entry into the States (Trejos 2006). Such concern about the flow of immigrants, especially with regard to their impact on the economies of states (in the form of jobs, benefits, and spending) is an important issue which needs addressing (ibid.). Recently, Bush has proposed a "guest worker" program which will provide for the identification and taxing of immigrant workers while establishing limits on the length of time these non-citizens can remain within the United States; the Bush plan is a significant step toward a more beneficial economic relationship with Mexico and while it possesses flaws, is a significant improvement on the current lack of regulation which characterize the political economy between these two nations. The benefits of reforming the current immigration and migrant worker situations are plentiful for both the United States and Mexico; aside from the political capital each nation's leader will receive for the negotiations, economic benefits are a significant part of a more structured, manageable guest worker program. The Bush proposal, while broad, makes two especially solid assertions regarding migrant labor and its economic impact: first, that "new immigration laws should serve the economic needs of our country. If an American employer is offering a job that American citizens are not willing to take, we ought to welcome into our country a person who will fill that job." Later in his speech, Bush noted that "new laws should provide incentives for temporary, foreign workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has expired" (Bush 2004). In light of the non-market related factors which currently shape the immigrant labor force, such as fear of deportation, fear of migration within the U.S., and the willingness to be severely underpaid for work as a result of illegal status, a guest worker plan like Bush's proposal could remove these influences from the labor market among immigrants and create a fairer, more market-based approach to employing f
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1505
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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