Keep Mexicans out by putting money into the NAFTA program

Dear Editor:

Our federal government obviously does not really care about curbing the flow of illegal Mexican workers into the United States. If they really did care, they would simply put their money where there mouth is by investing a little money in the Bush Sr. “baby,” NAFTA. If they were to strike an agreement with Mexico, where we helped them to finance a program to improve the infrastructure of Southern Mexico, it is likely that we would see better results than if they took that same money and invested it in building a wall to “protect” us from our own neighbors. While it is true that Mexico’s GDP has risen substantially since 1994, about 90 percent of all investment in Mexico since then has gone to only four states, all in the North. Wages in Mexico are much cheaper in the South, yet companies do not want to invest there because the infrastructure is so poor, making transportation unbearably inefficient. It should be no surprise then that the large majority of “illegal” Mexican workers all come from Southern states, where unemployment is the highest, and the real wage of the average Mexican worker has dropped around 7 percent since 1994. If our government would simply help to keep workers in Mexico, our own workers would see the results through an increase in real wages, by jobs that were once typically held by “illegal immigrants.”

Danielle Cariglio

Senior international relations major

Misinformation hurts readers and credibility of the newspaper itself

Dear Editor:

It’s bad enough that the Stater employs columnists who spread misinformation, but it’s even worse that the job is being outsourced to other schools. Both columns about immigration that were published in April 10th’s Stater contained glaring errors.

Both columns talk about the phobia of terrorists coming into the country through the borders. No terrorist has ever been captured crossing into the United States illegally. The media are using the threat of terrorism to scapegoat “illegal” immigrants.

In his column, Tony Cox said immigrants really do take jobs Americans want. He goes on to say that nearly half the people who work in the farming, fishing, and forestry industries are immigrants (who make up 4 percent of the total U.S. population).

This would be the point where a thoughtful columnist would present a counter-argument. Instead, he plunges on, saying that the other half of the people who work in those industries are Americans and are totally discounting the impact of the immigrants. There are a couple other industries he forgot. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that immigrants make up 17 percent of all workers in cleaning and 14 percent in construction. This country needs immigrants in order to function.

If Cox’s column wasn’t enough, readers got a double dose of zealous nationalism. The second shot came from David Thigpen, University of Mississippi student. In his column, he said, “. illegal immigrants take the back way into the United States . which means that they are taking many opportunities away from people who want to come to the United States legally and have their chance at the American dream.”

Aside from hurting the ear when read aloud, this sentence is offensive because it dehumanizes immigrants. Apparently, to Thigpen, they don’t qualify as people and they certainly don’t qualify for the American dream.

I urge the Stater and the people who write for it to research the topics they cover. Writing and publishing baseless arguments not only hurts the credibility of the paper but also hurts readers who may take them as fact.

Allen Hines

Sophomore pre-journalism and mass communication major