Immigration reform: Impasse or opportunity?

By: RICHARD KIY - For the North County Times | Saturday, June 17, 2006 8:19 PM PDT ∞

As the dust settles on the Bilbary-Busby fight over the 50th Congressional District, what is becoming clear is that a political compromise between the House and Senate proposals for immigration reform will prove politically unlikely at least until after the midterm elections. Instead of progress, what we have is an impasse with views on either side of the debate becoming more hardened and impassioned, further dividing America on an issue ---- immigration ---- that has historically defined us as a nation.

Is there an end in sight to America's raging debate on immigration reform? Perhaps there is, but the solution to the impasse does not lie here in our country but in the upcoming election in neighboring Mexico.

On July 2 Mexican citizens will go to the polls to elect their next president and congressional representatives in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies and Senate. Given that meaningful immigration reform will ultimately require more pro-active bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues, including many reforms to domestic policy, whom the Mexican people ultimately elect to lead them may well decide if the current House-Senate impasse will ever be resolvable.

Currently Mexico has three major political parties ---- the PRI, PRD and PAN ---- each with its own divergent views on migration policy and bilateral relations with the United States. Because of this poltiical divergence, the Mexican Congress also remains deeply divided on issues related to fiscal, economic, political and energy policy reforms that are crucial if Mexico has any hope of regaining its global competitiveness, reversing human migration flows and increasing its share of trade with the United States.

Today, stronger U.S.-Mexico relations are critically needed. Beyond trading partners, we mutually share a growing population of migrant workers with their own unique transnational identity embracing the values, customs and traditions of both countries and all the while economically supporting their families back home with more than $20 billion a year in remittance income.

Meaningful immigration reform needs to respond to this ever-present reality, transcending the politics of national sovereignty to promote cross-border policies that will help foster circular migration and economically strengthen both countries over time.

Contrary to what some in the U.S. Senate may believe, not all undocumented Mexican migrants are seeking a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship. Given their druthers, the vast majority of Mexican migrants would stay in Mexico close to their families but in light of their options are sadly forced to pick up and leave out of economic necessity, in some cases risking their lives to do so. As College of William & Mary professor George Grayson correctly notes, this is Mexico's shame.

Mexico can and must do more to promote economic opportunity for its own people, as they remain the lifeblood of their country. Absent meaningful domestic reforms that will promote greater opportunity and hope, the Mexican people will in future years not go to the polls but vote with their feet with growing numbers desperately seeking to permanently migrate north.

Over time, as more of Mexico's migrant population become U.S. citizens and family reunification is promoted, remittance income can not be counted on. So, with its own aging population, Mexico is living on borrowed time, unless it takes steps now to reverse the outbound human migration flow. Mexico's President Fox knows this and, to this credit, has spoken passionately about this risk in recent weeks, but many of his own legislative proposals for moving Mexico's economy forward have, over the past five years, been stymied by his country's own congressional gridlock and political inertia.

If the United States and Mexico are to both succeed and prosper in the 21st century they must collectively work together to address the unique needs of their shared transnational migrant population. Immigration reform cannot be addressed unilaterally.

The U.S. and Mexico must do more to improve the educational prospects of migrants and their families. Both countries stand to gain from a more educationally prepared work force.

The unique health care needs of migrant workers also need to be addressed binationally as infectious diseases and chronic illnesses respect no political boundaries, and our shared workforce is experiencing an alarming rise in the incidence of HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis, diabetes, obesity and occupationally related ailments that are not only leading to a loss of productivity but growing public health concerns on both sides of the border.

The economic security of aging undocumented migrants needs to be taken into account as those working here in this country with fake Social Security numbers will never see a dime of their hard-earned money when they ultimately retire. Yet, when they do quit work, which country, if any, will pick up the tab? Here, a binational 401-like deferred retirement plan and totalization of pension benefits for legal temporary immigrants need to be seriously explored.

Given the critical importance of immigration reform to both countries, much is a stake in Mexico's forthcoming election and in the upcoming deliberations on Capitol Hill. With some luck, the Mexican people will recognize the unique role that they can play in shaping more rationale immigration policy that up until now has largely focused on what steps America will take without coming to terms with the mutual obligations that exist given our shared migration challenges. For our part, we in the 50th District, as well as across the country, must get over our "triple border fence" fortress mentality and do the same.

Richard Kiy is a resident of Torrey Hills and president and CEO of the San Diego-based International Community Foundation, a public charity dedicated to expanding cross-border charitable giving along the border, Baja California Peninsula and communities across the Americas and Asia. Kiy is the co-editor of the book "Ties That Bind Us: Mexican Migrants in San Diego County." Among Kiy's previous positions in the U.S. government are special assistant for U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyís Office of International Activities and the acting environmental attache at the U.S. Embassy-Mexico. During the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Kiy served as a legislative fellow in the U.S. Congress for then-Chief Deputy Majority Whip Bill Richardson.