Republican front-runner Donald Trump has sparked outrage among Latinos after recent comments about Mexico sending its “rapists” and criminals to the United States, as well as calling for a giant wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep them out. Since then, Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has become more strident: he wants to deport 11.3 million undocumented workers, 6 million of which are Mexicans, and strip babies born to undocumented immigrants of their birthright citizenship. With all of this recent controversy on the topic, I was excited to research the topic of Mexican immigration to the United States and see if Trump’s comments had any legitimacy.
I began my research using Google Scholar and Google News, looking for any recent articles with the key words “Mexican immigration.” Unsure of where to narrow my focus, my initial research was very broad. My first sources included reports on the history of Mexican immigration and how it has evolved, news articles on proposed changes to foreign policy, and stories on how Mexican immigration has effected individuals in the workforce. Through looking at all of these different texts, I was able to find an area of particular interest to me, the effect of Mexican immigration on United States wages and jobs. Subsequently, I started honing in my research and looking at articles focusing on my more narrowed topic.
The first primary source article I found was from the American Enterprise Institute which described the impact to U.S. workers as a whole. Although the article does not focus specifically on Mexican migration, author James Pethokoukis brought up many interesting points, noting “temporary foreign workers—both skilled and less skilled—[actually] boost U.S. employment” (Pethokoukis). This point is in direct contrast to one of Trump’s claims that immigration makes it more difficult for U.S. citizens to find employment. This helped me form my working thesis, “Mexican immigration has a positive effect on the United States labor force,” which became the basis for the remainder of my research. Using databases and search engines, I worked to find arguments to back up my new thesis. I came across an article from the Council of Americas which makes the claim that immigrants bring skill sets critical for the U.S. economy, especially in projected growth industries. For example, construction is projected to add 1.8 million jobs by 2020, and a study of Latino immigrant construction workers found that nearly 60 percent arrived in the U.S. with a deep and sophisticated knowledge of the trade (Marczak). The remaining three articles describe different ways in which immigration boosts the United States economy and helps to fill the jobs many native-born citizens would not desire.
Beginning my research, I expected to conclude with a thesis that Mexican immigration is detrimental to the U.S. economy as Donald Trump has portrayed in his 2016 Presidential Campaign. To my surprise, my research led me to a different endpoint, that there are actually many benefits to immigration on wages and jobs. I feel as though my research was very thorough and detailed, yet I will continue to educate myself on the issue. Furthermore, I now have a better understanding of Mexican immigration which will allow me to make a good presidential selection as I vote for the first time in the 2016 election.
Work Cited
Pethokoukis, James. “How Does Immigration Affect US Wages and Jobs? – AEI.” American
Enterprise Institute. AEI, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Marczak, Jason. “Get the Facts: Five Reasons Why the U.S. Labor Force Needs Immigrants.”
Americas Society/ Council of the Americas. N.p., 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.