Featured News 2013 Immigration and Trade: The Delicate Balance

Immigration and Trade: The Delicate Balance

At present, the government is working on an immigration policy which could put all immigrants in the United States on a path to citizenship. As a part of the immigration policy, the government is advocating for tighter border controls and more supervision for those who enter the United States on a visa. Yet while politicians are focusing in on the need for border control, some political men and women are concerned that the tighter borders may tamper with trade between the United States and Mexico. Border cities like El Paso, Texas say that they rely on Hispanic consumers to cross the border and buy goods in the states.

Border economies benefit from both the international trade and local investment in areas like retail and real estate. There are indications that trade between Mexico and America will keep growing as both countries emerge from the recession. According to Fox News, there were 703,094 more legal border crossings in 2012 than there were in 2011. These are typically Hispanic consumers who are crossing the border with the proper paperwork in order to make purchases in U.S. border towns. El Paso alone sees about 17,000 pedestrian crossers per day. Many of them come over to do their shopping, and the mayor of El Paso admits that the city has a very vibrant trade doing with Mexico. According to the mayor, at least 20 percent of the cars in local shopping malls in El Paso have Mexican license plates.

In 2010, Mexico spent $163 billion on U.S. goods and trade with Mexico. According to the New Policy Institute, the trade between countries keeps approximately six million Americans employed. This is why some politicians are concerned that tighter border controls could damage a very vibrant and necessary trade between the two countries. If Mexican citizens were not allowed to cross the border and enter border cities to do their trading and purchasing, it could cause millions of Americans to lose their jobs and end a U.S. income source that has always been profitable. Some politicians are trying to remind the bipartisan group of senators working on the immigration policy of this fact.

Conservatives are currently asking that the government would use additional spending to secure the borders before offering undocumented aliens a path to citizenship. In response to the possible legalization of immigrants, the U.S. Border Control is tightening their enforcements and making it more difficult for Mexican citizens to cross the border even if they have the paperwork which allows them to do so. Eventually, this could mean closing those foreigners off to shopping within the United States. Some politicians in the border towns that thrive on Mexican customers believe that the government needs to choose a route of border control hat will still maximize the trade between the two countries. There has been a lack of investment and according to ABC News some officials are concerned that the new policy will be enacted before trade is considered.

If you are currently an immigrant who is advocating for reform, then you may want to mention the danger of corrupting trade with Mexico in order to ensure that border controls are not tightened to a detrimental level. If you are barred from entering the United States despite the fact that you have the appropriate paperwork in place, or if you run into another immigration complication in connection with the current immigration policies, then you need to contact an attorney who can help you out immediately. With the right lawyer on your side, you will be equipped to battle any immigration issues that come up. Don’t hesitate to locate a local lawyer using this directory today!

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