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Mexican
President Vincente Fox has introduced a radical idea to the
governments of the United States and Canada -- an economically united
North America with open borders that views Mexico as an asset rather
than a threat.
If capital can flow freely
between nations, Fox asks, why not people? So far, Fox has received a
lukewarm response from his northern neighbors, but this is certainly a
question that needs to be asked and cannot be ignored.
Each year, an estimated 340,000
Mexicans head to America -- some legally, many illegally. More than 7
million migrants are now living in the U.S., or a number that's equal
to around seven percent of Mexico's population.
It's easy to see why so many
people are leaving. In Mexico, if they have jobs, they earn $5 a day.
They can easily earn ten times that at a minimum wage job in the U.S.
With a booming economy and a tight labor market in the U.S., there are
plenty of opportunities for poor migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El
Salvador and the rest of Latin America.
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Background of the Issue
