Why Mexico continues to treat its people as an export

In truth, many thousands of Mexicans flee northward not necessarily because there are no jobs at home, or because they are starving there. America offers them far more upward mobility and social justice than does their own homeland. And for all the immigration rhetoric about race and class, millions of Mexicans vote with their feet to enjoy the far greater cultural tolerance found in the U.S.

Indigenous people make up a large part of the most recent wave of Mexican arrivals. Those who leave provinces like Oaxaca or Chiapas apparently find the English-speaking, multi-racial U.S. a fairer place than the hierarchical and often racially stratified society of Mexico.

People should be a nation’s greatest resource. Fairly or not, Mexico has long been seen to view its own citizens in rather cynical terms as a valuable export commodity, akin to oil and food. When they are young and healthy, Mexican expatriates are expected to scrimp, save, and support their poorer relatives back in Mexico. When these Mexican expats are ill and aged, then the U.S should pick up the tab for their care.