Recently there has been an increase in illegal immigration from Mexico, causing some civil unrest in the bordering states. There have been many different feelings towards the immigration of Mexicans, some were good but most were bad. The government seems to be a little more lenient with how they handle the immigrants when returning them to Mexico, whereas the unsettled citizens seem to have an extremely bad view of the immigrants. These citizens formed Vigilante groups, which performed border patrols that were heavily armed and extremely aggressive. When groups are formed out of anger they tend to be aggressive and out of control, especially when there are many reasons for their anger.The Mexicans flee to our country due to the low wages in their country, and come to America to try and make better money. The amount of money being made in Mexico was enough to make people risk their lives to enter a country where most people resent them being here. From 1982 when Mexico’s wages were at its highest, they fell drastically to almost nothing in 1996. Overall there was a sixty one percent decrease over the twelve-year sample period.
“Despite the hardening of the border, would-be crossers are not giving up. They simply keep trying- some are apprehended more than once in the same day- until they eventually make it across the line.”(Borderless Economy, Barricaded Border; by Peter Andreas). The struggle and pain that these people are willing to endure shows great determination that most people would only dream of having. If you were to see an illegal immigrant on the street, the only difference between them and us will be the color of their skin and language difficulties. They try very hard to follow a set of social norms that they have adapted from being in our country. In most cases they do not want to be here, they need to be here. The money that they make usually is sent home to help protect and feed their families. While here, contrary to popular belief, they help in their communities, unlike the common stereotype that they are ghosts when not working for manual labor “under the table”. Personally, immigrants from Mexico are human beings, as so they should be treated like one. They set a standard that most Americans should follow, hard work, determination and perseverance.
