Sunday, 14 October 2012

The Mexican View on America




The link I have posted leads to an article reporting about protesters protesting against a House bill passed in December 2005 that includes erecting a 700-mile wall along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border. I chose this article as some statistics match common stereotypes as well as some that surprisingly go against them.

One stereotype is that Mexicans urge to immigrate into America to seek opportunity which is supported by the high rate of immigration by immigrants of Hispanic and Latino origin into the states along the US-Mexico border.  In fact this rate of mass immigration (and high birth rates) of Mexicans is so high that it is predicted that by 2050 a ¼ of the American population will be of Hispanic and Latino decent. I was surprised that in this article it states that a majority of Mexicans (47%) said their lives would NOT improve if they illegally immigrated into the USA (45% said it would) and a 52% majority of Mexicans have an unfavourable view of Americans.  However it is also worth noting that this article was created in 2006, and the statistic supporting that Mexican lives would improve if they illegally immigrated into the states would be much higher in contemporary Mexico.

One stereotype is that Americans view Mexicans negatively, as 61% of Americans want their member of Congress to make immigration regulations more restrictive, and 80% of Mexicans believe Mexicans are discriminated against, yet however 67% of Americans agree that the US economy benefits from Mexican migrant workers. 

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