However, this view only takes one variable into account and is ignorant to the economic system as a whole. While dollars may be exported, foreign labor allows business to prosper. This stimulates the economy as a whole and enables foreign capital to return to the country. For example a Mexican may send some of his pay back home, but his labors may enable production of a commodity to be exported for twice that amount. Illegals also spend part of their pay "often more than 50% "on cost of living, which remains in the domestic economy.
As Americans, it is easy to overlook the benefits Mexicans gain from the system. Their country needs to be modernized, but turbulent government over time has hindered the process. Foreign investors help, but only to a limited degree since profits leave the country. Illegal immigrants counterbalance this "peso drain- by injecting American dollars into Mexico. This influx of capital allows for modernization, and as a result jobs will shift back into Mexico (del Olmo, 95).
There is also something to be said for globalization. As communication and transportation improve, so do foreign interactions and trade. "Boarders no longer are sites for imposing levies. Rather, they are transmitting membranes guaranteeing the free flow of goods, capital, and information (Sassen, 68)."" National economies, especially the United States, are lifting restrictions on foreign investments and encouraging economic globalization. Yet as we seek to bring foreign economies closer together, we also seek to keep foreigners out.
Those opposed to immigration and foreign labor follow their argument to the personal level. Not only does it draw money away form the country, they argue, but also lowers the income of native workers. Again, this argument follows simple gut logic and is oblivious to economic patterns. Studies of immigrant labor actually show a positive correlation between immigrant influx and native wages.
