Can Mexico even be considered an independent, sovereign nation?

Question

I ask this because it seems like most aspects of Mexican culture are driven by contact with the US. Their economy, their foreign policy, their immigration policy seem to all be dependent on the US.

The structure, I didn't say effectiveness, of their government is a mirror image of the US government (although the British and US governments have been the models for almost all modern republics).

It's often said (not that I agree with it) that America's economy is dependent on Mexican labor and would collapse if deprived of said labor. Can the same not be said of Mexico? Wouldn't Mexico's economy fall apart if deprived from the monetary exports of the immigrants and the tourism income?

So, therein lies the discussion. Is Mexico truly a sovereign nation, or are they already the 51st state just waiting for the paperwork to make it legal?

Answer 1

The truth is that the United States does not need illegal immigrants ... no country in the world needs unchecked hoardes of people traversing their borders unhindered ... Mexico on the other hand does need the money sent back by illegals ... I read somewhere that next to their oil revenue, the money repatriated by illegals is their second largest source of revenue ... so, all things being equal, if we deported the illegals, most of that money would stay in the U.S., and less drain on our resources ... the jobs would be filled by income tax paying legal immigrants and American citizens ... problem solved ....:)

Answer 2

The US is an important trading and political partner, not just for Mexico, but for most Latin American nations. The money sent back by migrants is a significant contribution to the balance of payments in Mexico, El Salvador, etc. In fact, the political systems and the economies are influenced to such an extent, that the US can send an envoy to hint that it would displease them if Juan was elected president, and Juan wouldn't be elected. Not very sovereign, eh?

However, the US economy isn't self-sufficient. Never mind the illegals, and the people who work in the service industry as waiters and short order cooks. There is outsourcing of services and manufacturing to countries as far as India to cut costs, there is the dependency on oil, which plagues everyone and has you paying through the nose at the pump and the grocery store. That makes the US economy vulnerable and dependent.
Being a sovereign nation doesn't mean your economy can't collapse, and the reason for so many US companies to outsource is that it is more profitable for them, and in the long run, for the consumer.

Answer 3

@ Sashie
The problem I have with your argument is that you the reason people are paying illegal immigrants as well as legal immigrants is because they are doing jobs that most U.S. citizens do not want to do. A clear example of this was when Alabama passsed HB 56, titled the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act. This was by far the strictest anti-immigration law in the nation. What insued was many farmers in losing entire fields of cropt because the local U.S. citizens did not want to due the jobs they where offering nor did they feel they were being compinsated enough for the amount of work they were being ask to due. Our agriculture has become dependent on cheap immigrant labor and although this is focusing on just one sector of the economy immigration has both positive and negative affects in other sectors such as in the service industry and construction industry' therefore massive deportations and extremely strict laws would not be the greatest solution to the issue. We need immigrants but as you mentioned we dont need unchecked hordes.

Answer 4

Why are you changing the subject you are the one from europe living on stolen indian and mexican lands and now your saying some shi,t about mexico that you have no brain to comprehend do the right thing and go move to europe if you dont like the native peoples of the country you invaded.

Answer 5

The Last one in Mexico Shut out the lights.

Answer 6

Until Mexico actively helps the U.S. address the problems we are having with illegal immigration, we should limit relations. The U.S. should help more of our own citizens, and leave foreign citizens to make their own changes within their own government and country.

Answer 7

As long as Mexico exports it's neediest poorest citizens to America and these same send money back to Mexico. Now look at this fact.Future costs for illegal immigrants in the United States will reach a half a trillion dollars, a Heritage Foundation researcher said Wednesday at congressional hearing in San Diego.

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The influx of illegal immigrants has effectively "imported about 10 million high school dropouts into the United States," said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow in welfare and family issues for the Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Rector testified before the House Judiciary Committee, which convened at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot for one in a series of hearings on illegal immigration this month.

The hearings are a rebuttal to a Senate bill that House members believe will result in amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The topic of the discussion was the fiscal impacts of illegal immigration.

The National Academy of Sciences estimated that each immigrant will result in a $100,000 net annual cost to taxpayers.

Rector said once illegal immigrants become citizens they can bring family members into the country, straining education and health care budgets.

"This Senate bill will become the largest expansion of the welfare system in 30 years and it's the wrong thing to do," he said.

Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego, said tighter border security would not stop or even discourage migrants from crossing into the country.

"Even if they are caught, they try again until they are successful," Cornelius told the committee. "Our research shows that 92 to 97 percent of them succeed on the first or second try."

According to Cornelius, his research team interviewed 1,300 migrants over the last 18 months.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the committee's chairman, said hospitals in the Southwestern United States are losing $190 million annually per year for uncompensated health care from illegal immigrants.

Nineteen percent of federal inmates are not citizens, he said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said "illegal immigration tears at the moral and economic fabric of the country."

"The fiscal drain is catastrophic," Antonovich said.

According to Antonovich, 12 percent of the 10.2 million residents of Los Angeles County are illegal immigrants.

Thirty percent of public health patients in the county are illegal immigrants, he testified.

The hearing is one in a series being held nationwide at a time when the Senate and House of Representatives are deadlocked over competing immigration legislation.

House Republicans beginning with Sensenbrenner argue that the Senate bill, which provides a pathway to eventual legalized status for some illegal immigrants, amounts to an amnesty.

Democrats have dismissed the series of hearings as an election-year ploy not intended to produce genuine reform.

Rep. Howard Berman (news, bio, voting record), D-Van Nuys, questioned the rationale for the hearings.

"These hearings are a con job on the American people," Berman said. "They want to avoid a conference (committee) because the bill splits their party and it is an election year."

Rep. Darrell Issa (news, bio, voting record), R-Vista, said the hearings, 19 of which are scheduled this month, are "not a waste of time."

Issa said the House and Senate are deadlocked between stronger enforcement and amnesty. Issa said he believes the House will not get to a conference with the Senate on the issue before the November election.

The We Are America/Somos America Alliance said in a statement yesterday that Wednesday's hearing would only "further delay a meaningful solution to the nation's immigration crisis."

"Immigrants contribute to and participate in our society," it read.

The group said the House Judiciary Committee hearings "are intended to associate immigrants with terrorists and present this hard-working community as a drain our our society's resources."

Another Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration was held early last month at an Imperial Beach U.S. Border Patrol station. The next is scheduled to be held in Santee on Saturday.

You Decide!

Answer 8

How long have I been saying that? Ever since I've been on answers. Yep.

So let's give them the option of statehood or annihilation.

Answer 9

yes they are independent. by that same token, isn't a good percentage of the US owned by china? most of out debt goes to them in the end.

Answer 10

no - too much corruption