Some days ago we’ve been lied to once again:
Donald Trump has been acquitted in the impeachment trial on inciting rioters in Capitol Hill. (Herb, 2021)
If this doesn’t seem like a lie to you, let me rephrase on what this headline means to me when read:
Donald Trump had no responsibility on inciting rioters in Capitol Hill. (Zul, 2021)
Backing up the reason this is a lie is beyond the scope of this article. After all, many excellent journalists and politicians have been clear of this in other headlines. What I want to cover in this article are the historical and ethereal lies we’ve been fed before, during and after the Trump administration.
We can’t be a country without borders! The illegals and terrorists will pour in.
Wrong.
- There’s no evidence of chemical weapons being smuggled from Mexico to the United States.
- There’s no evidence that ISIS operatives are flowing in from our border.
Illegal aliens are taking Americans’ rightful jobs.
Nope.
- Labor shortages have been continuously growing, without any “alien” intervention
- Historically, and compounded with the Obama administration, crossings of undocumented immigrants are failing dramatically.
Illegal aliens aren’t paying taxes. Not even the legal ones.
Zip. Foo. Nada.
- If you live in the United States, there’s no way around not paying taxes. You either pay taxes through your share from your employer, the products you buy or the property you own (which btw you can’t formally own if you’re an illegal alien, which is a power game landlords and rich people like to play)
- Immigrants, including undocumented ones pay for property taxes either through paying for homes or renting from landlords.
- Immigrants pay for income taxes and social security taxes without any benefit for retirement
- In 2010, the Social Security Administration estimated $13 billion went into the social security trust fund from undocumented workers. Only $1 billion was paid out to them.
Immigrants are lazy and aren’t hard working.
Are you serious?
- A tale as old as time, Latinx immigrants have planted the seeds of the fruits Americans so needed to survive during times such as the Great Depression, and lended a helping hand in wars such as the Second World War.
- Agricultural employers go to great lengths in contracting Mexican workers as much as they can not because of a preference, but of a NEED which they haven’t satisfied with the U.S. workforce. The demand is just too high.
- Additionally, more and more industries have seen an increase in demand of workforce, even in companies on the service oriented industry or the software industry. The United States has its own share of systematic problems within their educational system that they just don’t have enough specialized workers to fill the jobs these companies need.
- There’s been a slow and steady increase of Latinx students dropping out less on high school and accessing college.
- In Mexico, exchange programs encourage high performing and interested students and professionals to pursue visas such as the J status visa to hone their skills to contribute to the local and U.S.’s economy.
- If social mobility within immigrants isn’t easy, it’s because of the systematic barriers.
- This argument is a bit nuanced, since we must be wary of falling into exceptionalism. A human being is worthy of choosing where to live by the fact that they exist, and not by their producing capacity. Alas, I digress.
Why do we believe in this lies?
United States, like many other capitalist, imperialist economies such as those of the United Kingdom, are seeing the long-time coming effects of many phenomena, such as the digital revolution and the automation of processes, which have gone virtually unaddressed by our leaders. What’s the result? You have lots of people without jobs, without security, within families across different socioeconomic levels in the United States. This blooms into anger and fear in Americans. Question is, who do you get mad at?
Arguably, you can’t rage against a machine, the historical flow of progress, or a multi-factor phenomena triggered and boosted by globalization. Then a presidential candidate through its campaign and administration feeds us with lies, lies that put a face to all of United State’s problems, and Americans start raging against each other, against those who for so long have been there: inmigrants. And in my personal experience, Mexicans.
Mexicans have been there in the United States through thick and thin. From the previously Mexican-owned California to U.S. history’s Pennsylvania, Mexican’s have been there in El Paso and in Kennet Square. Let’s accept our blame and responsibility in all of this, and try to direct our actions based on our reality, and what we can ourselves comprehend from it. Let’s avoid molding our vision on parties which only have the intention of using power and personal gain, without disregard for any human being, including those of who boost them and vote for them.
Most of the key takeaways are not my own but from my reading of Homelands, a book by journalist Alfredo Corchado which I recommend reading to better understand the complicated landscape of Mexican immigration these past years. I’ll finish this article with a quote from this book, something said by Ken, one of the pivotal four friends in the book’s story:
“[…] the one thing this election has revealed is the gap between the rich and poor, educated and uneducated and the tribal society we’re in danger of becoming. Going into the future you need leaders who have feet in both camps, with enough empathy to lead in a racially majority-minority world. Leadership that’s going to keep us from becoming a tribal society in the future.” (Corchado, 2018)
I just hope we’re not too late for this ideal future for Mexico, the United States, and the world.
References
- Corchado, A.(2018) Homelands: Four friends, two countries and the fate of the Mexican-American Migration. Bloomsbury: New York.
- Herb, J. et al (2021) Trump acquitted for second time following historic Senate impeachment trial. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/politics/senate-impeachment-trial-day-5-vote/index.html
