The United States of America and Mexico have never had the most cordial of friendships. Mexico entered political turmoil after achieving its independence from Spain in 1821; unfortunately, political corruption still plagues the country today. It is estimated that there are 111 million Mexicans in a land area of over 760,000 sq. miles. This places Mexico as the 11th most populous country and the 14th largest by total area in the world, respectively. The United States, on the other hand, declared its independence on July 4, 1776 from the British Empire and was recognized as independent in 1783. Its remarkable Constitution led to a stable government, which the former British colonies and new American States all ratified in 1788 and amended with the Bill of Rights in 1791. Currently, there is an estimated 309 million Americans in about 3.8 million sq. miles, the 3rd largest by both population and land area, with only Russia and China being larger. Maintaining unity at the end of the US Civil War, securing the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, and winning the Mexican-American War in 1848 and the Spanish-American War in 1898– all helped make the United States one of the strongest countries in the world and defined its present day boundaries. After World War II and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, America eventually became the sole super power in the world.

The reason Mexico and the USA aren’t warm friends goes a long way back. In 1821, the American, Stephen F. Austin, carried his father’s vision of buying 307 parcels of land in Texas, a province belonging to Mexico after attaining their Spanish independence, and bringing 300 colonists to the area. The settlers had to eventually become Mexican Citizens and upon receiving their land titles became known as the Old Three Hundred, the first approved Anglo-American immigrants in Texas, along the Brazos River. Mexican law required the new immigrants to be Catholic and prohibited the possession of slaves, but the settlers didn’t pay much attention to that, since they were settling where no Spanish or Mexican settlements existed; consequently, most were Protestant and about 25% of them brought slaves with them. This would eventually become a problem with Mexico, as more and more Anglos continued to settle in Mexican land, as illegal immigrants. By 1834, Texas had a population of approximately 37,800 with only about 7,800 of Mexican origin. With this in mind, the Anglo immigrants started to think of independent statehood. This ties in beautifully with something Sun Tzu describes in his treatise, The Art of War, which I completely agree with:

Mo Tun of the Hsiung Nu established his power near the end of the Ch’in dynasty. His neighbors, the Eastern Hu were mightier and constantly sent ambassadors, making demands. “They said: ‘We wish to obtain T’ou Ma’s thousand-li horse.’ Mo Tun consulted his advisors, who all exclaimed: ‘The thousand-li horse! The most precious thing in this country! Do not give them that!’ Mo Tun replied: ‘Why begrudge a horse to a neighbour?’ So he sent the horse. Shortly after, the Eastern Hu sent envoys who said: ‘We wish one of the Khan’s princesses.’ Mo Tun asked advice of his ministers who all angrily said: ‘The Eastern Hu are unrighteous! Now they even ask for a princess! We implore you to attack them!’ Mo Tun said: ‘How can one begrudge his neighbour a young woman?’ So he gave the woman. A short time later, the Eastern Hu returned and said: ‘You have a thousand li of unused land which we want.’ Mo Tun consulted his advisers. Some said it would be reasonable to cede the land, others that it would not. Mo Tun was enraged and said: ‘Land is the foundation of the State. How could one give it away?’ All those who advised doing so were beheaded.” Mo Tun then sprang to his horse and made a surprise attack on the Eastern Hu, swiftly decimating them.

The point I’m trying to make is precisely that, the importance of land to a country. All those centuries ago, Chinese generals understood the importance of land to the State and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna knew this. The white colonizers couldn’t just keep land that wasn’t theirs, simple as that. It is analogous to owning land, inviting people to live for a while and those same people wanting to keep your lands afterwards. Thus, Santa Anna marched from Mexico City to keep the Texas colonists in order. We all know the subsequent battle at The Alamo and the Texans’ victory at San Jacinto, which led to Texas independence in 1836. Mexico always planned to take it back, an effort hindered by the United States’ annexation of Texas into the Union on December 29, 1845. This led to further discontent between the two countries. The 19th century American belief of Manifest Destiny was crucial to the countries falling out with one another. Americans arrogantly believed that it was the United States’ “destiny” of expanding from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean by any means possible. This precipitated the Mexican-American War, a ruse to take land from Mexico. At the time, Mexico was weak and America saw a juicy opportunity in 1846-48, under President Polk’s administration, declaring open war on its southern neighbor. Many Americans protested and disapproved of the war. One of my heroes, Henry David Thoreau was one of them. He refused to pay his poll tax, money used to fund the Mexican-American War and was imprisoned for it. Thoreau’s famous Civil Disobedience essay emerged from that experience:

“…The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.”

Here, one can easily discern that Thoreau saw the Mexican War for what it was, a scheme by a small group of men to take land from Mexico. However, Thoreau rebukes his fellow countrymen for not being more honest and protesting the war and slave trade in a proper fashion. The war was a disaster for Mexico, as it lost approximately half its territory, in the end only receiving 15 million dollars and an external debt to America cleared. The United States, in turn, had total control of Texas, the Rio Grande River became the official U.S.-Mexico border, and it obtained the present-day states of Utah, Nevada, and California and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Gold was almost immediately found in California afterwards, spurring the Gold Rush.

I don’t know about you, but the way I see it, Mexico has reason to be upset, wouldn’t you agree?

If we now shift focus to the present day, we can see the current problems between the two countries. Namely, drug trafficking and immigration. Let’s keep it with immigration. America is the melting pot of the world, everyone knows that. Immigrants, either illegally or legally, come here in search of prosperity, of the “American Dream”– a better life for each person and their family. That is nothing new. Mexico is a third-world country, which means people will migrate to the nearest country with the best economy, and that happens to be their northern neighbor, the USA. It isn’t rocket science that people will be prone to leave their country in search of a better way of life. America exports much pop culture to the rest of the world, making it all the more attractive. Today, most immigrants come from Mexico, Central and South America, and Asia. The largest flow of illegal immigrants, of course, comes from Mexico. Are they breaking the law? Yes. Are they harming the country? I do not think so, and I can debate anyone, any day of the week, on this issue. I think the common American is truly misinformed of what it means to be an “illegal” immigrant. This so, because they do not directly experience the day to day struggle these people go through. It’s easy to label someone a “wetback” and to use them as scapegoats for our dilemmas, but people air their opinions without once putting themselves in their shoes. People are so naive that they think, “people should come here legally”. Trust me, if people could, they would. It isn’t easy for the new waves of immigrants to get here and survive here. Millions upon millions of immigrants from all over Europe used to arrive at Ellis Island in New York, with a much easier pathway to citizenship than the one illegal immigrants face today.

What is an illegal immigrant, by the way? Is it the name of a second or third rate citizen? Is it someone below human level? More than anything, an illegal immigrant is someone who fights for a better life. Did not God endow us with a visa to the whole world, from the moment we are born? Are people to stop at man-made boundaries, because elite people say so? Modern illegal immigrants come to work, the grand majority anyways. There is always that small fraction that come to commit crimes, but we shouldn’t form a judgment by such a small group alone. Most do come to work, doing the jobs hardly anybody wants to do. People who do dry cleaning, house keeping, construction, restaurant servers, lawn people, and all types of handymen are often illegal immigrants, for example. It is a rare sight indeed to see an illegal immigrant of not only Mexico, but any country, to be asking for handouts at a traffic intersections–like many white and black American citizens do everyday. These immigrants come to work. They have the guts to leave home and country behind, facing uncertainty– all in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. They start from zero. Can you do that? Would you risk death by crossing the desert or swimming the Rio Grande if that was the means to prosperity? For it is necessity not pleasure that spurs people to leave their homeland. Think of it this way, if your family needs prescription medication but you cannot afford it, and there’s a pharmacy on your street corner, what would you do? Let your family die for not having the money to buy the medication or break into the pharmacy and take the medication? If you had no other choice, what would you do? I would break into the pharmacy. FYI, the pharmacy is the United States.

Not to offend anyone, but what type of illegal immigrant is worse? The illegal white immigrant who came to America and eradicated the Native American population and subjugated African slaves, or people that come here to make an honest living by doing the toughest, often most physical of jobs?

I know which one Thoreau would deem as worse. So, what is the big deal with providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 millions illegal immigrants and passing the DREAM Act, so illegal students can have financial aid for college and a way to get a job when they graduate? Let us not forget that by being an illegal immigrant, you are denied of many things that can best be summed up as crimes against humanity. Even after being in America for years, illegal immigrants cannot obtain a social security card, a driver license, a passport, financial aid from FAFSA, and many other things. People are prohibited from reaching their true potential and their dreams. What is the point of having a grade-A brain and not being able to find a job worthy of you capabilities? That is a shrewd waste of talent, if you ask me. Now, some people who are anti-immigrant would always point out that illegal immigrants create a strain in our economy. Namely, that such people abuse welfare and medical treatment, that billions of dollars go to waste, money that comes from American tax payers. While that is true, people fail to grasp the larger part of the picture. Illegal immigrants help the economy by paying 8 cents on every taxable dollar for goods and services. They eventually purchase houses and vehicles, thus, helping the economy move. Moreover, many illegal immigrants resort to using fake social security numbers, hence, they never get reimbursed on federal taxes, allowing Uncle Sam to keep billions of dollars every year. Most people don’t even know that, or just plain don’t accept it. One must also note that more and more Hispanic immigrants establish their own businesses, with revenue accumulating in the billions of dollars. Therefore, when people come my way arguing how illegals are ruining the country, I return them stupefied. And If you think I am just airing my opinions, think again.

From Wikipedia:

“According to James Smith, a senior economist at Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation and lead author of the study “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration”, immigrants contribute as much as $10 billion to the American economy each year. Separate research by both George Borjas, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University and Paul Samuelson, Nobel Prize-winning economist from MIT has shown that illegal immigration had a substantial effect on reducing the economic status of U.S. poor while benefiting middle class individuals and wealthier Americans.”

Immigrants, be them illegal or legal, are what makes our country strong. If America wants to curtail the flow of immigration, it should build a wall all along the border and add more border patrol and aerial surveillance as well… but to the people that have been living in the shadows for many years– those 11 millions immigrants– they should receive a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship… now. You simply cannot deport 11 million people. What’s more, people become Americans by being exposed to the American way of life. A paper shouldn’t dictate if you are an American or not, it is our values and morals that make us Americans in the end.

The way things are right now, with the current Arizona law passed by governor Jan Brewer (another reason I dislike conservative republicans), things are beginning to get ugly. If the federal government doesn’t do something soon, the problem will escalate. It is my hope that the Latino community rises up from its slumber and demands its due. There is a feeling of hatred bubbling up among people on opposite sides of the issue. The fact that U.S. Border Agents shot and killed a 15 year old boy in Ciudad Juarez for reportedly throwing rocks and the murder of a man, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, who was applied taser 4 times and beaten on the head with a baton for resisting deportation, have no doubt exasperated the Hispanic community this month.