The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Mexico:
False Hopes South of the Border

Sep 13, 2021

The poor jobs situation in the U.S. and the threatening environment toward immigrants cultivated by Trump slowed immigration from Mexico to a trickle over the last decade. Moreover, presidents Obama and Trump both kept up a steady stream of deportation of Mexican immigrants. Then last year, Mexican workers were not looking to migrate into the middle of the pandemic’s biggest epicenter.

Now for months, the American media has been more than happy to air restaurant owners’ complaints that no one in the U.S. wants to work for them. They’ve been so effective that working people in small towns and villages in Mexico have picked up on it. The lack of opportunities in Mexico and countries like it makes the U.S. sound like greener pastures. Of course, the media fail to mention how hard it is to live on the low wages on offer—the real reason for the “shortage.” Workers looking to immigrate often only hear the bosses’ side of the story, out of the mouths of the capitalist media.