Mexican government real villain in debate on immigration

To understand immigration, we must recognize what makes people migrate and what makes them travel to the places to which they migrate. In the case of the Mexican emigrant, I believe it is safe to say that the instability of the Mexican economy, a low standard of living, a decaying government that refuses to change and corruption are some of the factors.

When I refer to Mexico, I am referring to the poorer classes. I do not refer to the well-to-do business people or the politicians. They, too, despise the lower-class citizens of Mexico who migrate to the United States.

They refer to the migrants as "malinchistas," or traitors. The rich Mexican travels to Las Vegas or Europe with the appropriate visa to enjoy a well-deserved vacation. This is at the cost and pain of the poor who migrates to the United States and sends money to the ones left behind, contributing to the Mexican economy. They risk their lives in the Arizona desert or at the hands of their Mexican compatriots who wait for them at the border to rob from them the few dollars they managed to borrow for their journey to the land of true freedom.

I am not sure what is more cruel, the Arizona desert that takes the lives of hundreds of undocumented aliens every year or the Mexicans who routinely wait for them at the border to rob them, rape them, and ultimately kill them.

It is a myth that the undocumented migrates to the U.S.A. to succeed. If success were what we came to obtain, we would start by educating ourselves. Once educated, we could go back to Mexico and perhaps, very slowly, we may start reforming the bad image that the Mexican politician has fought so hard to impose on Mexico. If nothing else, with a good education we would be able to create or obtain better jobs back in Mexico.

The reality is that we migrate to get away from a silent oppressor who attacks by not providing some of the most basic necessities, such as respect and humane treatment.

Once we make it to the United States and taste the sweetness of true freedom, it is very hard to even think about making the journey back to the land from where we once escaped.

It is a proven fact that 60 percent of our sons and daughters are dropouts. Once again, education is not a priority in the minds of the undocumented worker; work is. Education is not in the picture.

This is the reason why I disagree with the current wave of protests taking place throughout the country. The civic groups that are manipulating the masses in the name of justice have given them a false sense of entitlement and security, but education is nowhere to be seen in their messages, nor do their signs mention anything about the one reason why we are here: the Mexican government.

While we march and protest, the Mexican government is doing nothing to stop the disintegration of the typical Mexican family that we once were. In fact, Mexico welcomes and encourages the protests.

For a fist full of dollars, we are willing to give up our culture, traditions, customs, heritage and ultimately our families. In many instances, due to the absence of education, our sons and daughters fall prey to drugs and gangs. That is not, and never has been, part of the Mexican culture.

The viruses of illiteracy, drugs and gangs are signs of a culture whose only purpose of migrating is to work, completely neglecting the family in the process.

The Mexican politician is celebrating the fact that we are protesting, hoping that at least a work permit may be granted. That way they don't have to improve anything back home.

I refuse to believe that Mexico, possessing vast natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, and enormous agricultural fields, can't improve its people's standard of living.

If criticism towards the undocumented is because one feels the necessity to be patriotic, perhaps then they should be left alone to do the jobs that no American really wants to do. And Americans should instead concentrate on helping the tens of thousands of Ford Motor Co. soon-to-be ex-employees keep their jobs by buying American-made cars.

Americans more than ever are turning their backs on American manufacturers by buying foreign-made products. Who is doing more damage to the economy, the undocumented who for the most part works hard and consumes in the United States, or the American who complains about the illegal, but would rather support foreign economies by buying their goods?

Americans often like to talk about illegal aliens, stating that they take jobs away from their sons and daughters, and I am thinking that if the illiterate undocumented has what it takes to compete with the educated American, then the U.S.A. is in trouble.

The president wants to hire 1,700 more Border Patrol agents to keep the country safe. But in my opinion, not one more agent needs to be sent to the border, not one more penny needs to be added to the budget of the Border Patrol, not one more soldier or another wall is needed at the border in order to stop the undocumented from coming into this truly great country of opportunity.

All that is truly needed to stop them from coming in is not to invite them to come over. Stop hiring them, and severely punish those who do.

• Catarino Angel Escobar Chavez was born and raised in Mexico, one of 10 sons and daughters born to a peasant family in the state of Aguascalientes. He has been a correctional officer for the Nevada Department of Corrections assigned to the Nevada State Prison since 1988.