Written by Christine Ho   

In the movie, A Day without a Mexican, people in California wake up to find that one-third of its population, the Hispanics, has vanished. Their disappearance turns out to be a disaster for the majority (white) way of life. In the real world, undocumented immigrants may be UNWANTED, but their labor in the U.S. is desperately NEEDED. Even worse, equating undocumented immigrants with drug traffickers distorts public understanding. So, for reasons of self interest alone, Arizona and the 17 “wanna be Arizona” states should rethink the unintended consequences of Arizona’s law, SB 1070.

Let’s face it, Arizona’s law is a thinly-veiled expression of xenophobia. Although the most offensive parts were blocked by Federal Judge Bolton, SB1070 threatens to make real life imitate art. Imagine the United States without its labor force of immigrant workers, who are largely Mexican in the Southwest, but are other ethnicities elsewhere. Who would do their jobs? Who would build houses, plant vegetables, pick fruit, slaughter cows and pigs, clean chickens, package meats, mow lawns, clean office buildings and hotel rooms, bus tables, wash dishes, and take care of the children and the elderly?

The answer, of course, is Americans. But, anyone with half a brain knows that U.S.-born Americans have already rejected the wages that undocumented workers accept because they have no choice. Businesses, large and small, depend on undocumented workers because they can pay them next to nothing and not offer them benefits. Others export (outsource) these low-skilled jobs. Having Americans perform these jobs would mean a huge jump in the cost of living to match American-style wages.

Despite Judge Bolton, “A Day without an Undocumented Hispanic” could still become a reality because Latinos and Latino national organizations have been alienated. A mass exodus of Arizona’s Spanish-speaking population (one third of the state) would slash tax revenue by one third because most undocumented workers pay taxes, contrary to urban legends. Retail would also plummet because Latinos (undocumented or not) buy groceries, cars, houses, and other amenities. Imagine what would happen to Arizona if the 35,000 Hispanic-owned businesses decided to pull up their roots and go elsewhere. Tourism from Latin America could also suffer because more than 13 million Mexicans, 2.5 million South Americans and 860,000 Central Americans visit the U.S. each year. Latin American tourists could easily boycott parts of the U.S. where one might be treated badly simply for speaking Spanish or for being brown-skinned.

So far, Arizona has seen only the tip of its economic iceberg. The Arizona tourism board reported in early May that boycotts have already cost the floundering state $90 million. The Major League Baseball Players Association is taking this law seriously, has publicly voiced its opposition, and is considering additional steps to protect the rights and interests of its members, many of whom fit the “undocumented” profile.
Foreign-born players make up 28 percent of this year’s Major League Baseball roster. That translates into more than 230 players from 14 countries, mostly from Latin America. Major League Baseball teams threatened several months ago to withdraw their Spring training from Arizona, cancel the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix, or at least to boycott it, although this has yet to happen. If everything described above became true, it would bring Arizona to its economic knees. In short, hatred of Latinos, translated into law, would backfire on Arizona.

The important message, however, is that SB1070 would not have stopped “illegal immigration,” even before it was stripped of its racial profiling element. Anti-immigrant laws at the federal level would be equally useless. This is because, every year, the U.S. economy demands 500,000 low-skill workers while there are only 5,000 open slots for low-skill “legal migrants.” Fortifying and militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border will not stop the flow of undocumented workers either. Building more fences and posting more guards are a waste of money and an exercise in futility. Simple arithmetic tells us that they will keep coming, as long as there are desperate job seekers on the other side who have been dispossessed of their livelihood.

What is needed are immigration policies that are informed by a deeper understanding of how economic globalization fuels illegal immigration. We must recognize that economic forces and relations of power are the major reasons why people leave their families, their countries, and risk their lives to relocate. Even if all the undocumented vanished from the U.S. today, more would come tomorrow for the very same reasons.

Submitted by:
Christine G.T. Ho, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology
School of Human and Organization Development
Fielding Graduate University
Telephone: 305-933-6195
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Skype: christinegtho