Satire: Immigration and the new American dream

There is a simple solution to the US-Mexico immigration issue. It is so obvious that no one can see the forest for the trees. The United States of America should annex the Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or the United States of Mexico. We could then either add the 31 states of Mexico to our 50, giving us a cool 81 states.

Or we could consider the whole country as one state, although it would then have the bragging rights to being the largest state in the Union (758,000 square miles), ahead of Alaska (663,000), and poor Texas (268,000) which would now be relegated to third place. To be more palatable to the Americans who would now hear even more of a giant sucking sound as their tax dollars went to prop up the new states, the Mexican states could be merged and gerrymandered into maybe the six or so with which we are familiar, such as Durango, Chihuahua, Hildalgo, Chiapas, Sonora, and Tabasco.

Consider this. The illegal immigrants are flowing into the USA because they want better lives, better jobs, and some rights they do not receive in their own country. After annexation, all Mexican citizens would be U.S. citizens (savings lots of paperwork and Guest Worker diatribes), eligible for many government programs including Social Security, along with being able to earn the minimum wage which is far above what they get from their employers under the Mexican government.

The United States gave Mexico about $69 million in 2006, which is a pittance compared to the unfathomable amounts sent to Colombia and Peru, $561 million and $146 million respectively. Channeling about half of that aid from just those two countries would give Mexico a real boost to begin to rebuild their infrastructure and business climate. The work ethic of the Mexican population is legend, and with good wages the economy would be booming in short order.

The six proposed new states in the U.S. would have American businesses flocking to take advantage of the tax breaks, the labor pool, and who knows what else. More Americans would now feel more comfortable vacationing in the the usual places like Cabo San Lucas and Acapulco, but now might take a chance again on Tijuana and Nogales. The tourist industry would boom now that there would be more people to staff the hotels, restaurants, and shops for the Americanos dollars.

Finally, with the (former) Mexican economy now skyrocketing, a good portion of the 12 million illegal immigrants would move southward to reunite with their families, get good paying jobs, and maybe even run for Senator or Representative in the U.S. Congress.

Imagine the new Congressional delegation from the Hispanic states forming a bloc to enact legislation to keep the American criminals and other riffraff from emigrating to the Eden that had grown from the Mexican desert.