NDN Blog

Emma joined Huffington Post reporter Elise Foley and others in a web conversation on immigration and emigration between the US and Mexico, based on this infographic.

Watch the conversation here:

NDN applauds the creation of the US-Mexico “High Level Economic Dialogue,” which convenes today in Mexico City for its first meeting. The US delegation led by Vice President Biden includes Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Rand Beers, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, State Department Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International and Foreign Language Education Clay Pell, US Department of Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard, and National Security Advisor to the Vice President Jake Sullivan. On the Mexican side, participants include Secretary of Finance Luis Videgaray, Secretary of the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo, Secretary of Communications and Transport Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Tourism Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and Secretary of Foreign Affairs José Antonio Meade. The impressive convergence of such an all-star cast of high-level officials illustrates the importance and the priority both countries are placing on this new collaborative initiative.

Presidents Obama and Peña Nieto established what will be an annual cabinet-level exchange to “further elevate and strengthen this dynamic bilateral commercial and economic relationship” during their meeting in May 2013. Today’s dialogue will focus on three areas: competitiveness and connectivity; economic growth, productivity and entrepreneurship and innovation; and partnering for regional and global leadership. Prior to the dialogue, private sector members of each country will also meet to discuss greater coordination in business and education initiatives.

Echoing the President and Vice President, Secretary Pritzker stated, “The US strategic relationship with Mexico is one of our most important in the world.” While the United States often focuses on the security collaboration across our shared 2,000 mile border, many do not realize what strides Mexico has made in the last two decades. GDP has tripled and Mexico is now ranked twelfth in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. Meanwhile, Mexico has become US’s third largest trading partner and second largest export market. Bilateral trade with Mexico has quadrupled to $535.9 billion in 2012, and 6 million US jobs alone depend on that trade. Meanwhile, the US efforts to increase its border security regime have successfully resulted in a dramatic decrease in illegal crossings and crime on the US side of the border. This bilateral trade explosion has thrived although the US has strengthened its security blanket.

This meeting comes at a particularly significant moment as we approach the 20 year anniversary of the passing of NAFTA. Participants look back on the success of the trade agreement that led to such regional economic growth, but also to what lies ahead, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. A senior administration official said, “Mexico is not just a leader in the region, a partner with the United States, but increasingly a global partner of ours.” On Mexico’s growth and reform, Pritzker has also said, "It's going to create continued opportunities for the two countries to work together, both diplomatically and economically."

NDN has written extensively on the importance of US-Mexico relations. For more information, see our report “Realizing the Strategic National Value of our Trade, Tourism and Ports of Entry with Mexico,” as well as our border and immigration powerpoint presentation.

NDN and the New Policy Institute hosted long-time immigration advocates Tamar Jacoby and Frank Sharry along with NDN President Simon Rosenberg for an expert thought-provoking discussion on immigration reform. While they agreed that the timeline is uncertain, and the strategy has yet to be fully articulated by politicians on both sides of the aisle, they all demonstrated a rare undeterred optimism that a path forward to bipartisan immigration reform legislation exists and is within reach.

You can watch the video of their discussion here and a summary of highlights follows below.

Ms. Jacoby, a self-identified “R,” outlined where her party is on immigration reform now, saying the “fundamentals are better than they have ever been.” Throughout the last decade, most of the Republican Party has been against immigration reform, but now Republican leadership, including Speaker Boehner, Representatives Cantor, Goodlatte, and Ryan, “all are very invested in reform” and working to get something done. Meanwhile, virulent opponents of immigration reform like Representative Steve King (Iowa) have been marginalized and no longer represent the majority of the party who are really “grappling” with the issue and what they can do. Ms. Jacoby proceeded to address one of the most controversial topics of the immigration debate, the dispute over legalization and citizenship. She gamed out that through the approach, recently articulated by Goodlatte and Ryan, of immigration reform that includes legalization without a “special path” to citizenship, plus a Kids’ Act, as many as 7 million undocumented immigrants would be eligible for citizenship through existing channels. While immigration reform is a difficult topic and other issues have bumped it down the to-do list, there is above all a "lingering sense that it has to get done and party has to get to it."

Mr. Sharry, a leader of the progressive immigration reform movement, touted that the entire pro-immigration reform movement “left, right and center, has never been stronger."  In firm opposition to the “conventional wisdom that we’re being slow-walked to death,” he affirmed why he is still optimistic. The politics of immigration reform have transformed as Arizona-style attrition and self-deportation laws were defeated by the Supreme Court and 2012 election, and President Obama approved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals last year. The Senate bill passed with a strong bipartisan majority in June. There are enough votes in the House “to pass a reasonably good bill…immigration reform with a path to citizenship,” and “our fundamentals are stronger than the House Republican dysfunction.” From a policy perspective, the majority of the US supports immigration reform and it would benefit the economy by leveling the playing field for employers and wages, decreasing the national deficit, and increasing innovation. Young DREAMers have put a human face on the issue, allowing critics to see the “others are us’es.” Finally, a broad diverse coalition of business groups, evangelicals, Catholics, agriculture groups, and progressive forces all support it. Mr. Sharry said he could also see the outline of a bipartisan deal on legislation, as long as the details do not include something like the SAFE Act on interior enforcement, and do support family unification and legalization with an opportunity for citizenship for the 11 million. “If House Republicans come forward with commonsense approach to dealing with the 11 million, I think we’ll get across the finish line this year.” 

Mr. Rosenberg of the center-left NDN, whose 21st Century Border Initiative has focused on the need for smart improvements on the border that promote trade and serve the entire US economy, also laid out his version of a compromise. He highlighted that it should include border infrastructure and reengage the Texas Congressional GOP, including Senator Cornyn and Representative McCaul, who shepherded a border security act through the House Homeland Security Committee with unanimous bipartisan support.

Immigration reform is alive. It is time for both parties to step onto the path forward to compromise. 

Immigration advocates have been active around the country during August recess, as more House GOP Representatives have joined with business and faith leaders in expressing their support. However, Congress has a very full fall agenda. Please join us for lunch with immigration reform leaders Frank Sharry of America’s Voice, Tamar Jacoby of ImmigrationWorks USA, and NDN’s Simon Rosenberg to discuss the continued prospects of immigration reform, its challenges, and why they are still optimistic that Congress can pass meaningful commonsense legislation.

When: Tuesday, September 17th, 12pm-1:15pm
             *Lunch will be served at 12noon, the panel will begin at 12:15pm followed by Q&A

Where: NDN & New Policy Institute Event Space
              729 15th St NW, 1st Floor

Please RSVP here

If you cannot attend in person, you can view the event livestreaming here or the recording on ndn.org after the event.

For more information on immigration reform, visit our Daily Immigration Reform Backgrounder of news and NDN/NPI resources. Also see our Border and Immigration Presentation and Simon's recent Huffington Post op-ed, "Immigration Reform Is Very Much Alive."

Now that the debate over immigration reform has moved from the Senate to the House, Simon will be offering weekly seminar-style presentations of an updated version of a PowerPoint we’ve been giving around town these last few months: “The Border Is Safer, The Immigration System Is Better, and Mexico Is Modernizing and Growing.” This fact-filled presentation showing how successful the Obama Administration has been in managing the complex US-Mexico border and improving our immigration system is increasingly important as the border emerges as the center of the whole immigration debate.

We've conducted three of these briefings in the past few weeks, and have one left - Thur, August 8th, noon.  Please RSVP here. Lunch will be served at 12noon, the presentation will begin promptly at 12:15. The half hour presentation will be followed by a half hour Q&A session.

At its core this presentation is a refutation of the border hysteria far too common in our politics today, a hysteria that has been largely abandoned, for example, by the Republican Party of Arizona, the state perhaps most responsible for exporting this politics to the rest of the country.  Among the statistics we will cover in the presentation tomorrow: 

• In recent years spending on border security has tripled, the number of border patrol agents has doubled.
• The net flow of unauthorized immigrations to the United States is now ZERO.
• Crime on the US side of the border has plummeted, and is violent crime rates in the 2 largest border cities, San Diego and El Paso are one third of what they were a decade ago.
• Apprehension rates in 2 of the 5 high traffic corridors are already over the Senate goal of 90%, and 2 are over 80%.
• Due to the drop in flow and huge increase in border patrol, the apprehension rate per border patrol agent has dropped from 327 in 1993 to 19 last year, or one every two to three weeks.  
• Meanwhile, trade with Mexico across this very same fortified border has exploded, growing from $300b in 2009 to $536n in 2012.  Mexico is now the US’s third largest trading partner, and second largest export market.  

For more of our analysis about the border and immigration reform, visit this page on our site, which includes a link to an earlier version of this presentation and related materials.  Also see Simon’s op-ed in The Hill, "On the Border, DHS Has Earned Congress' Trust," arguing that the Republican party must acknowledge the positive work done by the Department of Homeland Security at the border in order set realistic and achievable goals for immigration legislation.

We hope you can join us for this timely and informative discussion.  And please don’t be shy about forwarding this information, which is so important to the current debate, to others you think might be interested.

Now in the last stretch of her tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, set out for meetings with Mexican officials this week to discuss increased US-Mexico border security cooperation. She was accompanied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Thomas Winkowski, Assistant Secretary of International Affairs Alan Bersin, Ambassador to Mexico Anthony Wayne, and legal advisor John Sandweg.

They began Tuesday in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, where they met with Mexican Secretary of the Interior Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, other members of the Mexican Security Cabinet, local law enforcement officials, and the South Texas/Tamaulipas Border Violence Prevention Group. Secretaries Napolitano and Chong signed an agreement on a US-Mexico Cross Border Security Communications Network. It establishes the framework for increased intelligence sharing and a more efficient response by law enforcement and public safety on both sides of the border. They also announced the inauguration of a program of coordinated patrols between the US Border Patrol and Mexican Federal Police along the US-Mexico border. In view of the legal and human rights challenge of the increased flow of US-bound migrants from other countries across Mexico´s southern border, Napolitano and Osorio Chong discussed the intention to strengthen that border as well. Though they did not provide specifics, this objective will include a critical focus on regional economic development in relatively poor southern Mexico.

After their border meetings, the US team proceeded to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, as well as Secretary Osorio Chong and the Security Cabinet. Peña Nieto affirmed Mexico´s commitment to the strengthened bilateral real-time communication and coordinated border patrols. 

As the US legislative debate on immigration reform continues to return to questions of border security, this new level of binational cooperation among security personnel could be key to achieving real security results on the US-Mexico border. Representatives from both countries hope that a safer border will be a more dynamic one that allows for mutually beneficial growth in trade and tourism. US lawmakers should also rejoice at the focus on strengthening Mexico´s southern border. Firming up Mexico’s border with Guatemala and Belize will ultimately diminish the flow of undocumented migrants, trengthening the rule of law throughout Mexico and along the US southern border where Mexican as well as non-Mexican would-be immigrants are stuck in a dangerous holding pattern.

As Secretary Napolitano stated: “The United States and Mexico have taken unprecedented steps in recent years to deepen our cooperation along our shared border. We are committed to working together to support economic competitiveness by creating an environment in which our citizens and businesses continue to feel safe and secure, while reducing violence and increasing security.”

Acknowledging the reality of this increased US-Mexico collaboration should help the immigration debate move forward, since its results will strengthen a common border that catches security threats and expedites beneficial trade and travel.

For the last few months, the Senate was at center stage of the immigration reform show passing its border and immigration bill, S. 744, through the Judiciary Committee and full Senate. The House Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees were also at work passing legislation, but somehow the spotlight seemed to ignore most of that activity. Now that all eyes are on the House, these bills are crucially important to the immigration reform process in the coming months.

In case you missed it, here are the five bills that have passed out of committee in the House.

From the House Homeland Security Committee:

H.R. 1417- Border Security Results Act of 2013- Passed through the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security mark-up on April 24, 2013. Unanimously approved by full committee on May 15, 2013.

From House Judiciary Committee:

H.R. 2278- Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement “SAFE” Act- Approved 20-15 on June 18, 2013.

H.R. 1773- Agricultural Guestworker “AG” Act- approved 20-16 on June 19, 2013.

H.R. 1772- Legal Workforce Act- approved 22-9 on June 26, 2013.

H.R. 2131- Supplying Knowledge-Based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM “SKILLS” Act- approved 20-14 on June 27, 2013.

As the debate over immigration reform moves from the Senate to the House, Simon will be presenting an updated version of a powerpoint we’ve been giving around town these last few months: “The Border Is Safer, The Immigration System Is Better, and Mexico Is Modernizing and Growing.”  It is a fact-filled presentation showing how successful the Obama Administration has been in managing the complex US-Mexico border and improving our immigration system.  

The presentation will take place here at NDN at twelve noon, and lunch will be served.  You can RSVP here. 

At its core this presentation is a refutation of the border hysteria far too common in our politics today, an hysteria that has been largely abandoned, for example, by the Republican Party of Arizona, the state perhaps most responsible for exporting this politics to the rest of the country.  Among the statistics we will cover in the presentation tomorrow: 

• In recent years spending on border security has tripled, the number of border patrol agents has doubled.
• The net flow of unauthorized immigrations to the United States is now ZERO, and the annual flow of unauthorized migrants is one fifth of what it was a decade ago.
• Crime on the US side of the border has plummeted, and is violent crime rates in the 2 largest border cities, San Diego and El Paso are one third of what they were a decade ago.
• Apprehension rates in 2 of the 5 high traffic corridors are already over the Senate goal of 90%, and 2 are over 80%.
• Due to the drop in flow and huge increase in border patrol, the apprehension rate per border patrol agent has dropped from 327 in 1993 to 19 last year, or one every two to three weeks.  
• Meanwhile, trade with Mexico across this very same fortified border has exploded, growing from $300b in 2009 to $536b in 2012.  Mexico is now the US’s third largest trading partner, and second largest export market.  

If you cannot make it tomorrow, feel free to send this invitation on to others.  And for more of our analysis about the border and immigration reform, visit this page on our site, which includes a link to an earlier version of this presentation and related materials.  Also see Simon’s op-ed in The Hill, "On the Border, DHS Has Earned Congress' Trust," arguing that the Republican party must acknowledge the positive work done by the Department of Homeland Security at the border in order set realistic and achievable goals for immigration legislation.

We hope you can join us for this timely and informative discussion.  And please don’t be shy about forwarding this information, which is so important to the current debate, to others you think might be interested. 

Your Daily Border Bulletin is up:

Crime and Banishment “Mexico wants the U.S. government to pass an immigration reform that would set on the path to legality the six million or so undocumented Mexicans now living in the United States. But the cost might be too great for some Mexican communities along that very border Americans are trying so hard to make secure — for themselves.”

Selling Their Souls to the Devil As cited in yesterday’s LA Times article, on Sunday, June 23, 2013, reporter Jorge Ramos Ávalos shared the Mexico viewpoint of the proposed ‘border surge’ amendment to the Senate’s border/immigration bill. The article was originally published in the Mexico City-based paper La Reforma, and a copy is available here. Here is a quick translation of the piece.

In Mexico, U.S. Border 'Surge' Proposal Stirs Outcry After much silence from the other side of the border, some criticism is emerging from Mexico of the proposed increase of border patrol troops and fencing along the US-Mexico border. Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade stated that fences "are not the solution to the phenomenon of migration, and aren't consistent with a modern and secure border. They don't contribute to the development of the competitive region that both countries seek to promote."

As cited in yesterday’s LA Times article, on Sunday, June 23, 2013, reporter Jorge Ramos Ávalos shared the Mexico viewpoint of the proposed ‘border surge’ amendment to the Senate’s border/immigration bill. The article was originally published in the Mexico City-based paper La Reforma, and a copy is available here.

The following is a quick translation of the piece:

“We were about to record a special television program on immigration reform and we could not begin because Senator Chuck Schumer of New York would not hang up his cell phone. But none of the other three senators accompanying him- Bob Menendez, Dick Durbin and Michael Bennet- dared to interrupt him. Me either. Schumer was counting by telephone the number of senators who would support a new amendment to “militarize” the border of the United States with Mexico and the issue was too important to ask him to hang up. When at last he did, we found out about the negotiation that had occurred behind closed doors.

In exchange for securing enough Republican votes to legalize the majority of the 11 million undocumented, the Democrats would have to sell their souls to the devil, as the Mexican saying goes. The agreement includes increasing the number of border patrol agents on the border from 21,000 to 41,000, completing construction of 700 miles of wall between the two countries, putting into practice at a national level the employment verification program known as e-verify, and using the latest technology (like drones) to monitor the border.

 ‘Militarization’ is not exactly the right term because the agreement doesn’t send US soldiers to patrol border with Mexico. But it includes some harsh tactics that are only used between enemy nations. In fact, various private contractors that worked for the American military in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now pursuing new contracts on the Mexican border. That is where the money is.

This is undoubtedly the most drastic series of measures in history for physically separating two countries. That is why the absolute silence of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in this debate is so surprising. The passivity and negligence of his government is incomprehensible; it is as if this had nothing to do with him, as if it were not going to seriously affect millions of Mexicans.

This is not done between neighbors. Mexico is not being treated like one of the principal trading partners of the US. With this agreement, it appears as if the two nations are fighting. It’s terrible to return to the epoch of building walls.

The Peña Nieto government lacks imagination to propose migration agreements like that of the European Union, or at the very least, the audacity and temerity of Vicente Fox to ask for a new migration treaty with the United States. What Mexico needs are more visas for its workers in the north, not more US agents that arrest the poorest of Mexicans in the deserts and mountains.

The US senators that devised this border agreement, clearly, did not want narcoviolence from Mexico to cross into their country, nor did they want to run the risk of a terrorist sneaking through the border. After a complicated, long, and difficult negotiation on immigration reform, they also did not want their country to again fill with undocumented immigrants in a few years.

I understand why these US senators did this. The message they received from the Latino community en the past presidential elections is that they had to move forward with immigration reform and a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people, no matter the cost. And this is exactly what they did. Now we cannot hold it against them. The Democrats are sacrificing almost everything so that Republicans in the Senate approve an immigration reform bill and so the project passes in the House of Representatives.

The senators Schumer, Menendez, Bennet, Durbin and the Republican from Arizona, Jeff Flake, were very candid with me. No, this was not the agreement that they would have wanted. But immigration reform is a negotiation, not the directive of a single party. Lesson: one does not win what one deserves but only what one negotiates.

Of course, all these deals can change, or even be rejected up to the moment of voting. But the intention is already clear and the message is written on the wall: on the border it’s a heavy hand, not cooperation.

Finally, the principal loser in all this is Mexico. The US is shutting the door in its face and it isn’t reacting. Its ministers and diplomats appear not to understand how things work in the US. Here you knock on doors, lobby Congress, look for influence, use propaganda, appear in the media, and make noise. The Peña Nieto government has not done any of this and there are the consequences: more miles of fence and thousands of more agents to arrest Mexicans.

And the winners, I think, are the undocumented immigrants. It is unimaginable how many people are fighting for them! The reform advances and these immigrants are closer than ever to legalization. It is at an extremely high cost and with binational consequences that will last decades, but their voice is being heard.”