WASHINGTON
— The United States and Mexico have a rich, shared history. For more
than a century, people have moved back and forth at the border to work.
Their toil and industry could have taken place within a well-regulated
and mutually beneficial labor market. But in recent years much of their
labor has occurred in a vast black market — harming workers, families,
security and public finances in both countries.
There
is justifiable disappointment at this outcome. We have watched with
frustration, from the highest levels of government on each side of the
border, as two neighbors have wasted opportunities to help each other.
Our
countries ceased cooperating to regulate labor migration in 1965. They
understandably rejected the previous history of flawed “bracero”
agreements adopted as early as 1942, which contained inadequate
safeguards for workers from both countries. But rather than work to fix
those flaws, they have since rejected any genuinely cooperative
regulation of lower-skilled labor flows.
The sad result has been decades of rampant illegality. Today, by some reasonable estimates, of the 11.7 million Mexican-born individuals living in the United States, almost half (5.6 million) have no legal authorization.
The root cause of this tragedy is that past governments did not jointly
enact a well-regulated framework for new and lawful flows of labor.
There
is a better way. We believe both countries must now arrive at a
lasting, innovative and cooperative solution to reap the tremendous
benefits of directing lawful and well-regulated labor migration into
activities that complement and enhance the well-being and productive
potential of American workers and their families. Think, for example, of
the older Americans cared for by Mexican health workers, the American
children raised in homes built strong and kept neat by Mexican workers —
and the opportunities that this affords Mexican families for
transforming their lives, as the ancestors of most American families
once did as migrants.
It
is possible to regulate these activities in ways that create new,
better jobs for United States workers at all levels of education, foster
investment and growth in both countries, and strengthen the enforcement
of American and Mexican law. A well-regulated labor market can shape
the flow of migrant labor to ensure that it complements rather than
competes with United States workers. A black market cannot do that.
We
propose a new bilateral agreement to regulate future flows of
lower-skilled laborers between Mexico and the United States. This is the
durable and pragmatic way to rid ourselves of the many ills of the
black market, and is essential to strengthening the rule of law and
national security in both countries.
Such
an agreement requires innovation. Our countries need a mold-breaking
agreement for the 21st century, not the faulty agreements of previous
generations. For that reason, we asked a group of distinguished
individuals from both countries, with a wide range of political views
and expertise, to advise us on how the United States and Mexico could
jointly regulate future, lower-skilled labor migration for the benefit
of both countries. Their backgrounds in national security, labor unions,
the law, business, diplomacy and economics helped inform what we
consider to be a realistic plan for the future.
We
have written a blueprint for a new era of cooperation, with
innovations. These include a system of fees to ensure that it is in
American employers’ interest to hire American workers first; a form of
visa portability among employers that would protect the rights of both
Mexican and United States workers; a safeguard cap to prevent unforeseen
spikes in the number of workers crossing the border; and new incentives
for worker training, return migration and integration. It furthermore
proposes a bilateral, comprehensive system to regulate the recruiters of
Mexican labor — for the first time in a half-century — in order to
uphold workers’ rights and the laws of both countries. These fresh ideas
can fundamentally change how we cooperate as neighbors — an
immeasurable improvement over the failed unilateralism of the past half
century and the ill-fated agreements that preceded it.
Some
skeptics may say that the current level of political rancor will drown
out our cooperative pragmatism. Our answer is that we have already
waited too long for a lasting solution to illegal migration, and that
our proposal is a practical, long-term way to uproot and replace the
black market. Others might point out that net migration across the
border fell greatly after the Great Recession. We note that those who
are focusing on these small net flows conceal the sheer magnitude of the flows in both directions, which still require proper regulation; about 150,000 to 200,000 Mexicans cross the border each year heading north, and about as many head south.
We
have tried unilateralism for two generations, and it has failed. There
are well-thought-out alternatives, and neighbors have little choice but
to work together. At our shared border, we can build a shared future.
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