Immigration into the US by Mexicans and others from Latin America, as I keep saying, is part of a bunch of interlocked systemic problems that are NOT the fault of the immigrants themselves.These problems are NOT caused by the immigrants. Among the problems is that Mexicans and people all over the world have lost control of the ability to survive economically because, in part, of the domination of mega-transnational corporations now sometimes referred to as "supermajors." As has also been pointed out frequently, the ability of companies to move their jobs whenever they want has meant that workers who lived in fixed locations have LOST their jobs. At the very least, it would seem fair for workers to have the same rights of movement as corporations do. Furthermore, corporations can ignore local needs through contracting processes, through mechanization and automation and by environmentally devastating large-scale agricultural, energy and industrial production. All of this corporate activity takes a devastating toll not only on workers, but on health, the environment and on the social networks which keep people from anarchy.
Within Mexico, I discovered another example yesterday (these are not hidden; they're there for the brief looking).
In the local magazine Lider en Politítica y Negocios -- Veracruz efforts by local construction firms to win Pemex contracts have continuously failed in the face of international bids. Pemex is the state-owned petroleum corporation. Indeed, it is riddled with problems. The champions of privatization outside of Mexico have been pushing to have PEMEX privatized as a solution...with foreign participation, of course. That hasn't happened and isn't likely to: Pemex remains a symbol of Mexican independence. Indeed, some contracts are awarded to Mexican companies. However, private international companies have gotten their hands on a great deal of the work for Pemex. It will take some research to untangle these contractual relationships, and in some cases indeed foreign participation is probably necessary. However, in Chiapas, Coatzalcoalcos in Veracruz and in Tabasco the local chapter of the CMIC (Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry) complained that contracting prerequisites make it impossible for local firms which hire local people to win bids. In this instance, the bid was for maintenance of the petroleum pipelines in the area. The requirement was that the company winning the bid have five years' experience doing the work. The CMIC complains that since PEMEX won't award the contract locally, the local firm can't get the five years' experience for jobs which would benefit local people and the local area. This in spite of the willingness to sign a clause taking responsibility for any problems in maintenance, and the ability to back this up.