NAFTA's appalling consequence



It is unfortunate that illegal immigration from Mexico has been neglected at this week’s North American summit in New Orleans.

Instead, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.S., President George W. Bush used their gathering to praise NAFTA, which was supposed to decrease the flow of immigration from Mexico northbound 14 years ago.

It caused just the opposite.

Mexico represents the largest single source of legal and illegal immigration to the United States. Mexican immigrants account for about one-fifth of the legal immigrants living in the United States. This large percentage is a legacy of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), under which about two million formerly undocumented Mexicans acquired legal status.

In terms of the annual inflow of legal immigrants, about one in seven are Mexican. This share is substantially larger than the legal flow from any other country.

Mexico is also the single largest source of illegal immigrants. About 60 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States are Mexican. The reason for this: the waiting list for legal immigrant applicants from Mexico is currently 15 years.

It is obvious the “problemâ€