What America Owes Mexico

By Babu G. Ranganathan

Photo: What America Owes Mexico

As an American, let me say that the United States owes much to Mexico.

In the 19th century the United States, which was experiencing great industrial, technological and economic growth, sought to expand to the Pacific Ocean. But, there was one big problem. Mexico was in the way. Western land belonged to Mexico. So, the United States invented a doctrine called Manifest Destiny which said that the nation which could better use the land had the right to it. The United States forcibly took what are now California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from Mexico. This was raw aggression and it was morally wrong. When the United States seized these lands from Mexico they became first U.S. territories ruled directly from Washington D.C. Afterwards, when enough Americans from other parts of the country settled into these territories and formed the majority, the federal government in Washington allowed the people in the territories to vote on statehood and to have their own individual state governments.

The United States can partly correct the great injustice and wrong which committed against Mexico by giving legal status to Mexican workers in the U.S. who are doing jobs that most Americans refuse to do. No one is being hurt and everyone wins. But, isn't this giving amnesty to illegal immigrants? Not completely because the United States does owe Mexico at least this much for taking hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory from them. Also, in life there is a time for mercy as well as a time for justice. In this case it is even practical on our part to give mercy. There is no conceivable way that America can deport the millions of Mexicans already, and the employment vacuum this will cause will be felt in every American's pocket book. Americans are taking a lot of the work the Mexicans do for granted.

The overwhelming majority of Mexican workers are law-abiding and work very hard for low wages but that money means a lot for them and their families back home. They do pay billions in payroll taxes. Yes, they may have gotten their social security and I.D. numbers on the black market, but the tax money that's withdrawn weekly from their paychecks is very real. If they were given legal status then they would be paying even more in taxes. With all the baby boomers retiring soon America will need all the hard earned tax money from Mexican workers. America has aborted nearly forty million unborn babies since 1973, so Americans don't have enough people in the workforce to support social security once all the baby boomers retire.

These immigrant workers are not the "barbarians at the gates of Rome" as Pat Buchanan dramatizes them to be. They probably have far superior moral and family values than that of the average American. They're even the same religion as Pat Buchanan: Roman Catholic. Within a couple of generations, if not sooner, these Mexicans will have become Americanized and be speaking and writing fluent English. Other immigrants, the Irish, Italians, etc. have done so within a couple of generations.

America should do what's right, just, merciful, and compassionate and give amnesty to the hard working laborers from south of the border.

The author, Babu G. Ranganathan, is an experienced Christian writer. Mr. Ranganathan has his B.A. with academic concentrations in theology and biology. As a religion and science writer he has been recognized in the 24th edition of Marquis Who's Who In The East. The author's articles have been published in various publications including Russia's Pravda and South Korea's The Seoul Times. The author's website may be accessed at: www.religionscience.com.