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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 272 -- Undocumented Migrants.

Illegals-

Immigration is a definite sleeper issue in upcoming elections. You can almost just see the panel of several GOP candidates, in one of those "debates" on CNN or Fox News, each individual trying to prove he or she is the most serious on the immigration issue.

And immigration is quite a serious political issue. Illegal immigration has far-reaching policy consequences. Some good. Some bad.

Some states, obviously, have more illegals than others:

States with high levels of illegal immigration face correlating high levels of government spending on services, schools, and such. As property taxes creep upward in places California and Texas to pay for increasingly crowded schools, people are demanding action.

Interestingly, Mexico's economic growth has shifted toward the U.S. border in recent years, largely due to NAFTA:

It's often said that if Mexico could develop a thriving middle class and a healthy political culture, the United States might become a less attractive destination for Mexicans seeking wealth. If Mexico can develop a thriving manufacturing base just South of the Rio Grande, that middle class may indeed grow.

Opportunities, economic and otherwise, within Mexico, might be the key to the illegal immigration issue.

Incidentally, it should be noted that it's not exclusively uneducated, unskilled folks moving to America:

...the three groups with the highest migration probability were, in descending order, those with nine to 12 years of education, those with zero years of education and those with 13 to 16 years of education....

Declining migration costs for those with more education—possibly related to greater English proficiency among the more educated—could explain the larger migration of individuals with medium levels of education.

If Mexico continues to export so much of its college-educated talent, it's difficult to imagine a thriving middle class becoming a reality in the near term.

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Happiness.

Posted by Will Franklin · 18 February 2006 10:17 PM

Comments

Posted by: thomas at February 20, 2006 09:31 AM