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Immigration: Due to the fact that El Paso is located on the U.S. - Mexican border, immigration is a major issue for the city of El Paso. In recent months this has become an even more prominent issue because of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The three key parts to the reform include; securing the U.S. boarders, strengthening enforcement of laws within the U.S. and creating a temporary worker program that does not provide amnesty. There are two different approaches to the Immigration Reform. One approach wants the focus to be on securing the borders and strengthening the importance of laws. In fact, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that makes illegal immigration a felony. For this approach, there would be more border agents added, better technology and protective infrastructure in order to secure our boarders. Also included would be the strengthening enforcement of laws which would mean increasing funding for immigration enforcement. More money would then be put into resources to arrest illegal, violent criminals, smugglers, terrorists and human traffickers. The other approach that has been raised by the Senate would be to have guest worker status for immigrants that would create a path to citizenship. Foreign workers can fill jobs that no American is willing to do. They would be able to register for legal status on a temporary basis but if they want to apply for citizenship they would get no special benefits.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/images/20051129-2_f1g7627jpg-515h.jpg This reform has largely affected the city of El Paso since the Hispanic population, which recently became the majority race, is largely made up of immigrants. City council members have essentially rejected the reform that improves border security and gives out stricter penalties. Many citizens of El Paso have rejected this part of the reform as well. Even the younger population of high-school and middle school made their protests known by having demonstrations and walk-outs. The immigration reform has caused controversy and even tension within El Paso. For instance, religious followers are split over the reform. A majority of religious believers are largely against the reform because they believe in Christian charity and hospitality, while a smaller group of followers are for it because they believe in laws and rules.
http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/04/09/imageLA50204061757.jpg Although it would seem that at present time a majority of the El Paso population is against the reform, there are a few problems concerning the immigrants. In a two year study called “At the U.S. Cross Roads: U.S./Mexico Border Counties in Transition," prepared for the U.S./Mexico Border Countries coalition done by University of Texas at El Paso's Institute for Policy and Economic Development was published on March 9, 2006 in Ascribe Newswire. The study grouped the 24 border countries together into a makeshift "51st state" and compared the results to the rest of the states across the country. The results of the test are as follows:
-Border
counties would rank No. 1 in federal crime as a 51st state,
primarily because of drug and immigration arrests.
Miller, Kimberly. “Study Shines Light on Border Problem.” Ascribe Newswire 9 March 2006. Lexis-Nexis. 17 April 2006 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>. Education: Education has been greatly impacted by immigration. One way that immigration is affecting education is through the total fertility rate of Hispanic women. The fertility rate of a Hispanic woman is 3.0 which compares to 2.3 for blacks and 1.9 for whites. This is causing concern because the Hispanic population is a younger population, in fact one-third are under the age 18, which means that school districts have a difficult time coming up with resources and money. Lawmakers have not helped solve the problem of depleted funds and have actually done just the opposite. They have proposed budget cuts to schools and instead want to put that money towards prisons. This has caused the two lobbying groups National Association for the Advancement of Color People and the League of United Latin American Citizens to come together in order to change this policy.
http://www.dunncenter.org/images/PH03425I.jpg Along with more money they are lobbying lawmakers to keep the 10% law. This law states that those in the top 10% of their graduating class will have automatic admission to Texas universities. If the younger population is not educated properly or given the same opportunities, the economy of El Paso could take a major hit. The top 10% is extremely important because not enough immigrants and minorities are going to college. There are only 8.9% of Hispanics with a college degree, compared to that of Anglos which is 30% and blacks which is 15.3%. The economy may in turn be hurt by the fact that a growing amount of the El Paso population is not highly educated.
http://www.tiec.org/images/tiectx7c.jpg Poverty: According to a 2000 U.S. Census Data, 22% of people living in El Paso live below the poverty level. Two-thirds of those people living in poverty are blacks and Hispanics. This is due to the fact that blacks and Hispanics have incomes that are two-thirds that of whites. An issue involving those living in poverty is that of air pollution. Many companies build factories in Mexico because of the relaxed taxes and laws. The companies then want to build the factories relatively close to the border in order to minimize the cost of shipping. These factories spill their pollution over into the city of El Paso making this an increasingly large issue. At the current time, El Paso is ranked 40th for health risks. Many of the people living in the health risk areas develop some form of asthma. The people who are living in these areas are Hispanics, who are 41% more likely than whites to live in the polluted neighborhoods.
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/0005/korea.photo/images/north/04.skyline.jpg Drug Smuggling: Drug smuggling occurs frequently across the U.S./Mexican border. During one weekend up to 25 drug busts can be made at the El Paso border. In any given day, there are typically three to four drug busts made there. On the weekends however, this number can increase to 10 per day. These seizures can lead up to hundreds, even thousands of pounds of drugs, mainly marijuana but others as well. Recently U.S. patrols have come across a new problem when dealing with drug seizures. The new problem they have been having is with the Mexican military. According to border patrols, the Mexican military has crossed the border and has helped to assist with the delivery of drugs over the border. This has even led to open gun fighting between the U.S. officials and the Mexican military. The Mexican government denies that these are soldiers of Mexico. They claim that the men dressed up in the uniforms are imposters and are in no way related to their military. Regardless, has made drug smuggling from Mexico to the United States even more difficult to prevent.
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2006/0125/20060125_080321_lat26border.jpg
Sources: Caldwell, Alicia. “El Paso poorer neighborhoods under cloud of pollution.” The Associated Press State and Local Wire 13 December 2005. Proquest Newsstand. May 28 2006 <http://proquest.umi.com>. Carter, Sara. “Mexican soldiers ignore U.S. border.” San Bernardino 14 January 2006. Lexis-Nexis. 23 April 23, 2006 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>. Crowder, David. “Council resolution opposes aspects of immigration bill.” El Paso Times 5 April 2006. 9 April 2006 <http://www.elpasotimes.com>. "Fact Sheet: Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Securing Our Boarders." The Whitehouse Online. 2006 The Whitehouse. 24 April 2006 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/04/20060424-4.html>. Garcia, Guillermo. “Senator gives state ‘solid D’ Groups issue dueling statementson budget, education issues.” San Antonio Express March 1 2005. Proquest Newsstand. 28 March 2005. <http://proquest.umi.com/>. Montgomery, David and Jennifer Martinez. "Rallies display emerging social, political force." Knight Ridder Newspapers 10 April 2006. 25 April 2006 Pear, Robert. “U.S. Minorities are becoming the majority.” International Herald Tribune 13 August 2005. Proquest Newsstand. May 28 2006 <http://proquest.umi.com>. Pinkerton, James. “More than half of Texans are minorities.” Houston Chronicle 11 August 2005. Proquest Newsstand. May 28 2006 <http://proquest.umi.com>. |
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Page created by Abby Ofstedahl - University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
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