"Because of hunger and poverty, the desperate Mexican worker will try to

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reach U.S. city at any cost" 16 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1986 U.S. and world bankers, who are squeezing billions of dollars in interest out of the Mexican economy. Every turn of the screw by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increases austerity in Mexico, closes more factories, and sends more workers fleeing north.

In addition, there are tens of thousands of refugees from Guatemala, El Salvador, and other Central American countries traveling across the border by way of Mexico. They are fleeing the right-wing death squads imposed by the U.S. government with U.S. taxpayers' money.

As a result, a virtual war is being waged to repel "invaders" from south of the border. Armed patrols, helicopters, heatseeking radarscopes, and Vietnam-type body sensors planted along the border confront the undocumented immigrants on their journey.

Besides these hazards, the foreign workers may be stuffed in the trunk of a car, dumped in the middle of the desert, waylaid and robbed by bandits, and arrested, beaten, and thrown back across the border by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

Despite these setbacks, the desperate Mexican worker or Central American refugee will try to reach a U.S. city at any cost. They are welcomed by employers who would be crippled all the laws were enforced.

Simpson and Rodino bills The intent of the immigration bills in Congress (Simpson in the Senate and Rodino in the House) is to stabilize a system that has been running out of control.

To slow down the flow of immigrants from south of the border, the bill would make it harder for the undocumented workers to get a job. Under SimpsonRodino, employers who knowingly hire workers without documents would be fined. South Africa has used a similar law against employers who hire Black workers whose passes are not in order.

Of course, an employer could claim he did not know the worker was undocumented and hire him or her anyway. This would put the worker even further at the mercy of the employer. The employer could also play it safe and refuse to hire anyone who in under this bill. They would be eligible for permanent status only if the! ' remain agricultural workers for five years. This is a revival of the indentured servant laws of colonial days.

Legal barricades

Some liberals are supporting SimpsonRodino because its makes a provision for eventually legalizing the residence of some undocumented workers. But very few workers will be able to get through the series of legal barricades erected by the bill.

First, no one can apply for legalization until three years after employer sanctions have gone into effect. This will give the INS time to conduct the most intensive deportation drive against all undocumented workers.

In preparation for this drive, the federal government plans to build a detention facility for 300 inmates near San Francisco. An INS official said the facility is needed for what is planned to be a "dramatic them to return home when the U.S. government ends its war of aggression on the workers and peasants of Central America-when it ends its dirty war against Nicaragua and ends all U.S. military and economic aid to the Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Honduran governments.

Mexican workers, too, should not have to risk their lives to seek a job in the United States. After the United States ripped off a third of their country in 1848, Mexicans retained the right to travel in and out of communities on both sides of the border. Their right to cross the border was only questioned when unemployment rose here during the Depression of the 1930s.

But unemployment can be eliminated in the United States. The U.S. labor movement should demand a shorter workweek with no loss of pay to give a job to every person in this country. In addition, millions of new jobs can be created to construct and staff the hospitals, schools, and housing facilities that the United States desperately needs.

Most Mexican workers, of course, would prefer to stay home. That will be possible only when the burden of Mexico's international debt is lifted, when the stranglehold of U.S. imperialism is broken and Mexican workers are masters in their own house.

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