Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Americans fixated on immigration, but not interested in region."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > January > 29 > Entry
Americans fixated on immigration, but not interested in region
A new Zogby poll portends some bad news when it comes to the future of U.S. relations with Mexico and Latin America. According to Peter Hakim, a leading Latin Americanist with the Inter-American Dialogue, the poll results show that Americans increasingly view Latin America through the narrow lens of immigration, something he said threatens to sour “prospects for improving U.S. policy and relations with the region in the years ahead.”
The poll found that 76 percent of respondents said a candidate’s stance on immigration is very or somewhat important. Respondents also voiced displeasure with remittances, the money immigrants send home through wire transfers and bank deposits. A whopping 61 percent said remittances were bad because they take money out of the U.S. economy.
However when it comes to fixing the immigration problem, American aren’t too keen on job creation ventures in Latin America. Only 36 percent say job creation to stem the flow of migrants should be the most important policy. Despite much agreement that better jobs in Mexico and Latin America are perhaps the only long-term solution to massive migration, the idea has gotten remarkably short shrift. While the U.S. mulls a $1.4 billion aid package to help Mexico fight the drug cartels, we haven’t hear much of aid packages to help stimulate job creation. On the campaign trail, President Felipe Calderon talked a lot about getting U.S. investment in states like Michoacan and Zacatecas. Since he was elected we’ve heard little on the subject. And job creation in Mexico still doesn’t keep up with the waves of young people entering the workforce each year.
Beyond the immigration debate, Americans appear to have little interest in Latin America. Just 7 percent think it’s the most important region to the United States, falling well behind the Middle East (43 percent), East Asia (20 percent) and Europe (12 percent).
And notoriously sensitive Mexico is surely to be hurt by the poll’s finding that only 18 percent believe it is the most influential country in the region, trailing Venezuela (29 percent) and Brazil (23 percent).
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By Joel E
January 29, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Pointless comment. The Governments of Latin America cannot take care of their own, and he wants us to be respectful to the Latin Americans. They are costing us a bundle of tax so I don’t think so.
Stimulate their economies with higher paying jobs? Latin America is rich, corrupt, and they don’t have family planning. It is so blatantly wrong to expect the Untied States to provide a solution it is silly.
By Dean Smith
January 29, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this
It is simply stunning to realize that so many Hispanics/Latinos/Mexicans/Chicanos/and South Americans think the “Gringos” owe them a free ride.
By Jim
January 30, 2008 8:33 PM | Link to this
I wish I could say I was surprised by the ignorance and apathy of U.S. citizens concerning their struggling neighbors to the south.
By Disgusted Reader
January 31, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this
Every time I drive through El Paso the scenery is the same to the south. Tar paper, concrete block hovels and just across the river the exact opposite. Move the border south 100 miles and give us that part of the country and watch the poverty disappear. It will take work and time but those there now have no interest in that. The problem is not the US, the problem is Mexicos.