By Marisa Trevi?o, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – Along our shared border with Mexico, a new time bomb has been activated from which not even the $25 million ratified by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for new anti-terror tools can diffuse.
This bomb doesn't tick seconds; it keeps time with the deaths of every person whose dreams of a better life in the United States are not enough to stave off the elements, geographic barricades or sinister smugglers.
What makes this bomb's detonation particularly notable today is the fact that demographic experts predict that there will be a major shift in who will constitute the majority of victims in the next abandoned 18-wheeler.
According to Princeton University's Office of Population Research study, "Engendering Migrant Networks: The Case of Mexican Migration," the international migration of women north of the border will grow faster in the near future than that of male international migration.
The study's authors, Sara Curran and Estela Rivero-Fuentes discovered that though male migration relies on a destination support network comprised of friends, distant relatives and close family members, female migration depends solely on ties to close family members who have already migrated.
Because of the efforts of the Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986, which encouraged family reunification, more women have made the journey. Now, those same women are the lifelines to a new generation of females who, out of necessity, will trace the perilous steps of those who went before them.
If economists are right, the migration flow will not be stopped with new high-tech, anti-terror border measures of even the statistical fact that over 95 people have died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since September 30, 2002.
Until Mexico's economy can generate more than the 250,000 jobs it created this year for a workforce that grows by more than a million people a year, more and more women will put their faith in the goodness of humanity to the test.
It's a troubling concept since the Population Research study found that when a mother migrates, the likelihood that her sons and daughters will do the same are higher. Whereas a father's migration significantly influences only the sons to follow, rather than the daughters.
It would be a disastrous situation for Mexico, who has already experienced the loss in great numbers of men from rural towns. If the women too were to leave, the impact on both Mexico and the United States could be staggering. Not to mention, the rise of smugglers enslaving immigrant women for profit - whether it be for sweatshop labor or prostitution.
For that reason, the Bush Administration - while dispatching Mr. Ridge to the "frontera" to implement new border patrol measures - must also do away with the grudge-bearing because Mexico didn't support the Iraqi war effort, and use their foresight to begin the dialogue for a migration agreement.
An agreement that will save lives, ensure the future prosperity of the economies of both countries and disable a bomb that's ticking ever faster.
Marisa Trevino is a writer from Rowlett. If you have opinions about this commentary, call (214) 740-9338 or contact us through our website at kera.org.