The immigration debate is about balance of needs

The immigration debate is about a balance of economic and humanitarian needs...the U.S. needs for labor, the Mexican needs for "jobs." The vitriol and bile and hatred that has become governance in the past six years only adds a bitter flavor to the stew. Then, just when you think you've heard all the points of view and are tiring of all the talk....along comes a data point. Difficult stuff, data; when everyone else is ranting and carrying on, it just shows up, and changes the debate.

It turns out there's another Mexican need which is aligned with our need to control the flood of illegals to the U.S. They need themselves. They need their men to build their own lives at home. They need their own middle class, and lost in the rancor is this plea. It was sent to a U.S. blogger by email. He discusses it source and reliability, and concludes it is genuine.
Read all that for yourself, and decide what you think.

Dear friends in the United States....

We are Mexican women from villages in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero.

Our brothers and husbands have left us for work in the US.

We strongly support closing the US-Mexico border to illegal entry.

We did not want our men to leave and we want them to return to us.

As we struggle as women, against the difficulty of our situation, we focus all effort on building a business to sustain ourselves and our children.

But we need the help of our husbands and our brothers to re-unite our families and to help us develop economic opportunity in the traditional fashion jewelry production industry that is the heritage of our parents.

Please close the US Border to illegal migration and send our men home to us. Thank you.

Best wishes from Mexico to all persons of good will.

We should continue to be friends and respect each other.

Atentamente,

Eusebia Flores
Artcamp Artesanas Campesinas
Tecalpulco, Municipio de Taxco de Alarcon; Guerrero, Mexico

Captains Quarters concludes by saying: This should remind us that the draw of the illicit money offered by American businesses to the poor workers of Mexico and Central America not only takes potential work away from Americans and legal immigrants but also creates a cultural and productivity drain from those areas abandoned by the able men who cross the border. It has the potential to cause social damage for generations in Mexico and other nations. The businesses who offer the work for the men and women draw them from the opportunity to improve their own communities. The men who leave often do so for years, leaving the women behind to fend for themselves and their children.

Here's a point that's not been heard before....a humanitarian need to close the border to illegal immigration. We should do this on behalf of those whose wrecked society is made worse by failure to stop their hemorrhage, enabled by political classes, theirs and ours, unwilling to do their job.

I hadn't thought of this. Had you?